Operation:CRIME
by NicotineDragon
Summary: When Hitmen start attacking the Kids Next Door, they suspect the DCFDTL are up to it. But when they, and other villians are attacked, everything points to the Socity of the Kid Mafia. WARNING: Swearing, drug use, and realistic violence
1. Be polite to phycho's with weapons

Operation:CRIME

**C**rime  
  
**R**ing  
  
**I**ncident  
  
**M**ight  
  
**E**liminate  
  
When Lime Ricky's bar is desrtoyed by vandels, they suspect the DCFDTL are up to it again, shortly thereafter, Delightful Manor suffers from a serious explosion and Father is taken to the hospital. These acts of terror progresivly get worse and worse as villans as well as the KND's own families are attacked. It seems as though the KND among others have interested the underground socitiy of criminal kids known as the Kid Mafia. And Why aren't the DCFDTL KND operatives? I mean, they're less clumsy and maybe even smarter then the KND, so why aren't they operatives as well? WARNING: Contains drug abuse, plenty of dirty words, and violence with real weapons. I reedited all the chaptuhs to make them easier to read.

I wish I owed Kids Next Door, but sadly, I don't, so now I am poor writer.

* * *

_Being a hero sure makes a guy thirsty._ Numbuh Two thought as he downed another root beer, his forth today. Kicking back was what an operative had a right to do after a day of saving kids. The rest of his teammates thought the same thing as they celebrated another successful mission. Numbuh Three played Pump it Up, Numbauh Five was conversing with the other kids, Numbuh four was showing off his cool kung fu. Numbuh One was at the tree house, working the night away in his room. Meanwhile, a shady person with Mediterranean features stared at the mirror in the bathroom. He wore a black hoodie with the words "ZERO" imblazened with silver letters on the front. About his wrists were black leather bracelets studded with metal spikes. He wore black and red SOAPS shoes and black jeans. His dark eyes looked over the wire rectangle sunglasses he wore.  
  
He slammed his palms into the mirror. "I'm about to get my vengeance...." he growled as the lights in the bathroom flickered out.  
  
Numbuh Five gracefully slipped out of the crowd and walked to Numbuh Four.   
  
"Numbuh Five notices the guy in the red jacket's been eyeing us for sometime."  
  
"Yeah! What's HIS problem?" Numbuh Four responded, pointing to a boy in the corner.  
  
He had mediterranian features, tanned skin, and striaght black hair that was neatly cut and fell to just above his shoulders. His hair was covered with a red cap not unlike the one Numbuh Five wore. His eyes were covered with stylish silver sunglasses with orange polorized lenses. He wore a long-sleeved red shirt and baggy denim jeans. In the seat right next to him, sat a grey backpack with what looked like two sticks poking out of it. 

"HEY BUB!" Numbuh Four practally yelled, walking to the boy in red. "You've been staring at us all night! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" The orange hoodled operative said, arms flailing. The red boy looked around the bar, at all the kids now staring at them.   
  
"WELL?!" Yelled Numbuh Four.   
  
"You should have been more descrete, that outburst just cost Lime Ricky his bar." The Red boy said in a low voice. With that, he issued a hand signal, slung his backpack on and grabbed the two sticks.   
  
"NUMBUH FOUR! HE'S GOT SWORDS!!" Numbuh Three screamed.   
  
"Huh?!" Numbuh Four turned. With that, a blade swished over Numbuh Four's head. He looked up and gulped. The red boy was standing on the table, twin katana's flashing.   
  
One more swing and Numbuh Four might have been in two peices, had he not rolled out of the way. Just then, two of the red boy's friends sitting in other parts of the bar stood up. One was an Italian with slicked back, black, hair in a crimson suit resembling the Delightful Children From Down The Lane's boy's uniform with pants. The other was a girl with short green hair with a black shirt over a long sleeved white one, her blue jeans were faded, ripped, and baggy. The Italian raised his head, He had beady eyes and an ugly scar touching his eye and going across his cheek.   
  
"Let's fuckin' light 'iss place UP!" The girl yelled with an Irish accent. The Italian laughed as they both lit soda bottles with rags and threw them at people. What was in the bottles wasn't soda, as what it had looked like. It was gasoline. The Molotov cocktails exploded on impact, sending a shower of fire and green glass everywhere.  
  
"Oooo! Pretty!" The oblivious Numbuh Three said in awe of the fireworks lighting up the kids-only tavern. Panic ensured as the fire and the sword weilding maniac stirred up disorder. A boy in a black hoodie had walked out of the bathroom around the time the trio had caused mass hysteria among the kids. "Everyone OUT of the bar!" A hooded kid in sunglasses screamed, Bur he was only talking to himself as the bar's roors were packed as kids in mass hysteria were fighting their way out. The boy in red was busy chopping the funiture into firewood, laughing manically. Molotov cocktails sailed through the air, flames climbing high, fueled by gasoline and wood.   
  
"Numbuh Five says we should get the heck OUT OF HERE!" she screamed protecting her mouth and nose with her hat.  
  
Numbuh Two made an exit as he kicked down a portion of the wall. They had just made it out when the hole also swarmed with kids.  
  
The KND operatives made sure everyone made it out safely; then they heard the roar of moters, and laughing in the distance. Numbuh Five looked towards the sound and saw four shadows revving up motorcycles and driving away.   
  
_Four people? But Numbuh Five only saw three vandels..._ she thought to herself.  
  
It didn't take tong before the adults got wind of the situation and sent their fire trucks over to put out the fire. Lime Ricky just stood there and shook his head. "My bar, my whole life, it's gone....."  
  
Just then, the crowd gave way to someone pushing, "Everyone out of my way, Important Kids Next Door operation!" Numbuh One said as he shoved his way through the already dissipating crowd. "What happened, here? Kids Next Door? Status report." he barked.

Numbuh Two was first. "Some freaky guys and a green haired girl went totally crazy and set the whole bar on fire!"  
  
Numbuh Four jumped in next," A guy in red was staring at us, and I go up to him and I'm all, like, 'HEY BUB! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!' and he's all like, 'I'm gonna kill you,' and I start to...."he rambled until Numbuh Five interupted him,   
  
"If ya'll listen, Numbuh Five can tell y'all what really went down.."  
  
########

Back at the tree house, 12:00 Midnight, Numbuh One checked the data base for anyone who might be responible for this recent attack. To prevent any futher crimes, Numbuh One wanted to catch these crooks before they did anymore damage.  
  
The KND database kept tabs on all children, all over the world(Creepy), the more suspisous teens, all suspisous adults. His seach was based on what each vandel had looked like. His search of a swordsman, irish pyrotechnic, and what seemed like a rouge Italian Delightful Child. _They had to have had at least some problem with the Kids Next Door, least they had some boss who did,_ Numbuh One thought, remembering Mr.White. He found the following interesting profiles.  
  
$$$$$$$$  
  
Kazuo "Spyder" Vincenzo  
  
KNDanger Rating: 8.9  
  
Status: Non-operative, accounted for  
  
Age:11  
  
Gender: Boy  
  
Nationality: American  
  
Liniage: Italian/Japanese  
  
Family: Lives with mother, father, and grandparents  
  
Specialty: Fights with "Two-Sword Style", Super genius, experts with   
  
Computers and other technology.  
  
Mental Condition: Questionable  
  
KND Crimes: Stealing, burglery, breaking and entering, 

attempted murder, vandelism, resisting arrest, assault of an

operative, mission interference, use of hostages, assisting the

enemy, threating an operative.  
  
History: Grew up training with grandfather in swordsmenship, was  
  
identified as a super genius at the age of five. Eccels at physics,  
  
meganical engineering, and many of the academics. Currently  
  
attends the ninth grade and is a mercinary for hire. Wasn't choosen  
  
as a KND operative because of his lack of ethnic code.  
  
Abilities: Double sword master, builds weopens of mass destruction.   
  
Mercinary for hire.  
  
$$$$$$$  
  
Clover O'Donnal  
  
KNDanger rating: 5.9  
  
Status: Non-operative, accounted for  
  
Age:10  
  
Gender: Girl  
  
Nationality: American (not a citizen)  
  
Liniage:Irish  
  
Family: Lives with parents and 12 brothers  
  
Specialty: Pyrotechnics and bagpipe playing. Martial arts expert. Stealthy.  
  
Mental Condidtion: May be delusional and emotionally instable  
  
KND Crimes: armed robbery, stealing, vandelism, plotting to undermind KND,  
  
threating an operative, battery, arson disturbing the peace, misson interferience

History: Moved to the U.S with her nuclear family. Is an expert when it comes to   
  
fire. Gets into quiet a lot of trouble with the KND for starting fights, battery,  
  
distrubing the peace, and other such mania. Has been arrested by KND operatives  
  
on several acconts. Wasn't choosen as an operative because of her record. Abilities: A hitman, makes bombs and bullets, as well as fireworks. $$$$$$$$$$$ Giovanni Panzanelli  
  
KNDanger rating: 0  
  
Status:Non-operative, missing  
  
Age:10  
  
Gender: Boy  
  
Nationality: Italian  
  
Liniage:Italian  
  
Family: Unknown at this time  
  
Specialty: Criminal organization  
  
Mental Condition: Sane and stable  
  
KND Crimes: None  
  
History: Son of a coperate master who dissappered. All other family is  
  
unknown. Dissappered from Italy a year ago. Might be part of an  
  
underground organazation. Acts like the Delighful Children from Down the Lane  
  
when it comes to fighting. Wasn't choosen as an operative because of  
  
his reclusive nature and lack of cooperation skills.  
  
Abilities:Stealth, charm  
  
$$$$$$$$$$  
  
Angelo Ragazzi  
  
KNDanger rating: 0  
  
Staus:Former Operative Numbuh 20, accounted for  
  
Age: 23  
  
Gender: Boy  
  
Natianality: American  
  
Liniage: mixed race/ Italian  
  
Family: younger brother  
  
Specality: Currently 6th grade English teacher  
  
Mental Condition: Slightly eccectric  
  
KND Crimes: None  
  
History: Born in Italy, moved to the U.S. for family reasons when he was 18. Was an   
  
impressive operative, decommissioned at 13. Fevorishly supports kids rights and is a  
  
sixth grade teacher. Show great promise for helping kids/adult equel rights. Takes Thai  
  
boxing and is a master with staff fighting. Might be a mob boss  
  
Abilities: martial arts, oraganized crime(?), mediating kid/adult conflicts.  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
Kazuo Vincenzo and Clover O'Donnal most definately were the two who tourched the bar, but Giovanni Panzanelli just didn't fit. Sure, he was a crook, but he was more delightful, having others do things for him, not getting involved himself. _Perhaps he's only physical to the ones he kills, he is a hitman. _Numbuh One thought. This made him dangerous. He considered calling HQ to update Giovanni's profile, but thought better of it; couldn't without actual proof. Angelo was the last on his list. He wan't even at the bar (kids only) at the time, but he might proove to be useful when the investigation began. Figueing he might as well get some sleep, he turned out the lights and went to bed. 


	2. Doin' Business

_I don't own Kids Next Door, but you are all smart little cabages, so I think you all know that now, that's why I write fanfiction, because I don't own anything......sigh_

* * *

2. Doing Business  
  
The afternoon air was stuffy and oppressive to any normal person, so imagine how it must have felt to anyone in a suit. The girls of the Delightful Children from Down the Lane didn't have much to worry about, but a suit got very hot, very fast. If the Delightful boys were feeling miserable, they hid it masterfully. The day was hot and humid, good chance for rain, but the merciless sun burned right through the clouds. They had run out of good ideas to destroy the Kids Next Door, so they decided to take a break and get drinks at a local pub. They were glad Father had approved this place, as going anywhere without his permission was practically suicide. They were in good company, as many of the Kids Next Door's enemies were there. They were glad to see that Knightbrace had finally gotten out of the hospital, and that new plans were being formed to finally destroy the Kids Next Door. Being the obedient, adult-fearing children that they were, they didn't point out the fatal errors in their plans. They never did.   
  
"That will never work."   
  
Everyone turned to see who had said that. It was an Italian girl, with long cherryred hair. She wore a black hoodie with the word "ZERO" emblazoned in silver block letters. She had a black spiked bracelet on each wrist, red and black SOAPS shoes. She wore wire framed retangular sunglasses.  
  
"Never put a self-destruct button outside of your robots."   
  
"Pesky girls shouldn't talk while the grown-ups are talking. Go run and play." Mr. Wink said.   
  
That got her furious. She kicked the chair right out from under him and grabbed him by the neck. She hissed furiously at him, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?! Pesky Girl?! I look like a girl?! Is that what I am?! A woman?! I'm a fucking woman, is that it?! What made you think I'm a woman?! Do I look like a woman? Do I look like a woman to you?!" He was screaming by now. Okay, so the Italian girl is actually a long-haired Italian boy. And a sensitive one at that. Mr. Wink was too suprised to speak. The boy calmed down; he let go of the terrified old guy. The whole group stared at him.   
  
"Oh! Excuse me. Where are my manners? My name is Michelangelo V. Ragazzi. I hate the Kids Next Door. All who feel likewise should hear me out." And with that, he sat down.   
  
#######  
  
The Kids Next Door were unsuccessfully looking for he suspects from last night. So far, nobody heard anything, nobody saw anything. All who were there a the scene were too preoccupied with the fire. The trail was getting cold. The operatives sat in their tree house talking about today's failure. The forecast predictions were right. It was raining one of those summer monsoons. The kind that terrify small children and Numbuh Three. She was hugging her stuffed animals.  
  
"ARGG!" Numbuh Four was tearing at his hair and pacing around. "We look all day, and we don't get one measly clue! This is CRAZY!"   
  
"Aw, C'mon Numbuh Four. Someone must know something. We just need to keep looking!" Numbuh Two said.  
  
"WE"VE BEEN LOOKING ALL DAY!" Numbuh Four countered.  
  
"Have we asked every kid in the neighborhood?" Numbuh One barked.   
  
"Every kid, Numbuh One. But we can ask teenagers. Or If we get really desperate, we can ask adults.." Numbuh five said.   
  
"NO! Teenagers and adults are the scum of the earth! Who knows what false information they might give! They could lead up into a trap!" Numbuh One ranted.   
  
_That's a good one, Numbuh Five thought. All kids are good. All teenagers and adults are bad. Never mind The Delightful Children from Down The Lane or Lasso Lass._ Numbuh Five sighed. Rules were rules. They really couldn't ask anyone over twelve years of age for their help, that was the KND law. Asking help from teens was taboo, and asking help from adults was decommission territory.  
  
"Hey, Kids Next Door, looking for someone?" said a voice from above. The Kids Next Door looked up and saw the boy in red from Lime Ricky's. His swords were out, and he kneeled from the rafters.  
  
"You're the guy who tried to cut me in two!" Numbuh Four yelled,"AND you're friends with the guys who torched the place!"   
  
"Why, yes, yes I am." The boy from the rafters said.   
  
"Is your name Kazuo Vincenzo?" Numbuh One asked.  
  
"That's what my mom calls me. But everyone else just calls me Spyder!" he yelled, jumping from the rafters and landed in the middle of the group, "Come at me!" he challenged.  
  
Numbuh Four and Numbuh Five, who knew martial arts, ran to meet his challenge. Everyone else ran to arm themselves.   
  
"Just two? That's fine!" Spyder said as he tried to decapitate Numbuh Five. She ducked under the katana and attempted a punch to the chest. Spyder blocked with his katana as Numbuh Four came in for a head shot. The blow struck Spyder in the back of the skull. He felt his vision blackend for a second, but recovered to try a slash from behind. Numbuh Four jumped away just in time to avoid being slashed open. Numbuh Five karate chopped Spyder across the bridge of his nose. He screamed in pain and was temperarily blinded. The damage might have been worse had he not been wearing his sunglasses, but his gaurd was dropped nonetheless. In his blindness, He felt strong arms lock around his own.  
  
"I'll hold him Numbuh Five, you just kick his butt!"   
  
"Awright!" the female said. Sight was restored for Spyder just in time to see Numbuh Five pummel him with vicious punches and kicks. Whoever meant 'hits like a girl' as an insult was never hit by one. Spyder thought as he went down.He had one more trick up his sleeve.Numbuh Four let go as the would-be assassin fell to the ground. "Numbuh Five thinks that's was too easy. This guy gets an 8.9 as a rating, and we drop him this fast? Nuh-uh, too easy." Numbuh five muttered.   
  
Just then, the rest of the team arrived with various kid-made 2x4 technology. "Whoa! You got him! Good Job!" Numbuh Two exclaimed.   
  
"Hold on, Numbuh Two, Numbuh Five don't think this is over." she said. Numbuhs One through Three lowered their weapons to the motionless boy on the floor. Numbuh Four rolled him onto his back.   
  
The orange solar lenses flashed as something previously hidden dropped from the canopy of the treetop outside. It was the size of hippie-hop, resembling a scorpion, red and orange, with a powerful laser gun on its tail and huge pincher claws. It stood protectively over Spyder. It raised high enough to allow Spyder to sit up. He put his cap back on and pushed his sunglasses up his nose.  
  
"Meet the AFOR-12, code name: DeathStrike." he said.   
  
The Deathstrike picked its master up with one of those huge claws of its and placed him inside the cockpit; all black until the computers turned on to reveal a 360 degree view of the outside. Wires wrapped around him and connected to his glasses, encasing him in a tangled cocoon. The battle system initiated and man and machine were one. A duel voice of Spyder and the cybernetic monster voice of the DeathStrike growled, "LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED"   
  
"Numbuh Five knew this was just too easy!"#############"Your idea is sickening and appalling. We refuse to take part in such an nefarious scheme! Good day to you!" The Delightful Children from Down the Lane said in disgust, getting up to leave. The thought of even considering participation in such an odious act appalled them all. This was a first, dispite their seeming communist nature, they disagreed quite a bit when nobody was looking or listening. The rain was pouring outside, so they called Jinkens to pick them up.   
  
Mikey spoke up after the Delightful Children had left, "Prudes." he muttered, "Now, does anyone else have an objection?"   
  
Big Brother spoke up, "Just explain it a little better." Mikey smiled. "Well..." "Wait a minute." The Tolinater interrupted. He was looking out at the rain under the canopy that covered the deck, looking glum. "Wouldn't the Kids Next Door be listening in on us? So now the plan is ruined."   
  
"The Land Lubber's right, mate." Stickybeard pointed out.  
  
"I-I am?" The Tolinater said, suprised that anyone would call him right for once.  
  
"You are," Mikey said, "But I already have someone keeping them busy..."########The clawed demonic mech had the upper hand. With Numbuh Five and Numbuh Four in it's claws, it preceded to blast the remaining free operatives with it's tail. SpyderDeathStrike laughed manically as it tore apart the base. It was immobile at least, Numbuh Three had frozen the beast's legs. The DeathStrike threw its captive operatives at Numbuh Two and Numbuh One. They collided with a sickening thud. Numbuh Two had shot a rafter on impact and it fell on the DeathStrike.   
  
"YAAYY! We won!" Numbuh Three clapped with glee. She leaped and danced on the immobile DeathStrike.   
  
"Wait, Numbuh Three!" Numbuh One yelled.  
  
Too late. The monster reared back up and grabbed the Asian girl.  
  
"DID YOU THINK THIS WAS OVER?!" They yelled, "I'M JUST GETTING WARMED UP!"   
  
Taking that as a pun, it shot the ice trapping its legs. Numbuh Three screamed, she shot her hand in the air to get the sleeve down, and spoke to the watch on her wrist. "Hippie-Hop! We've got someone to play with! It's a scary scorpion!" She screamed over the chaos. Seconds later, The giant rabbit bust through the wall. It lept through the air and slashed the claw right off the DeathStrike, freeing its master. "Thanks!" Kuki said as she lept into the cockpit.   
  
"IT'S TIME TO PLAY!" Hippie-Hop bellowed.

* * *

I thinkI'll end it there. A bit of a cliff hanger for you. Next chapter: Mech vs. Mech. And Mikey's evil Scheme begins to take hold. By the way, AFOR-12 is a military designation. I made up the mech, but if it were real, the designation would identify what it is used for. A-attack, F-Fighter, O-obsevration, R- reconnaissance, 12 for the design number (numbuh?). So, until next chapter, SMILE UNTIL YOU STOP! 


	3. Kiss and make up?

I don't own Kids Next Door, I do own, however, several things that are not the rights to Codename: Kids Next Door. These are the Delightful Chilren's names. Sorry to all those who read this after Operation Undercover, but this was published before that episode.   
  
Tall guy in the back = 'Big' Ben  
  
Pigtailed girl = Anne  
  
Numbuh Three look alike = Chelsea  
  
Numbuh Four look alike = Andy  
  
Helmet Dude = John "Pinball" Xaviar Little.

* * *

Hippie-Hop and DeathStrike eyed each other. One piloted by an cute Asian operative in a plush, comfortible cockpit. The other wasn't piloted, but rather merged with, the Italian boy in the cold, 360 degree view cockpit covered in wires. Hippie-Hop was at an advantage. It wasn't damaged. Spyder panted, sweat beading down his face. The DeathStrike had it's claw ripped off, and this had hurt Spyder as well. While merged with the machine, their minds became one.  
  
_He's hurt,_ Numbuh Three thought.

"Numbuh Three! Lead that thing out of the tree house!" Numbuh One yelled.   
  
"Okay!" she said.

Hippie-hop charged and DeathStrike knocked it out of the air and out of the treehouse, into the pouring rain, with its remaining claw. The DeathStrike leaped out of the newly made hole and landed on the ground besides the mechanical rabbit. It beat on Hippie-Hop's cement-truck frame with its remaining claw. Hippie-hop looked the enemy right in the face. It shot a laser out of it's mouth and right in the DeathStrike's face. Spyder/DeathStrike howled in fury. They returned fire with the tail-mounted laser cannon. Numbuh Three dodged gracefully away. Spyder's glasses flashed and a targeting screen appeared in the lenses. It locked onto Hippie-Hop.  
  
_Fire_  
  
A dozen rapid-fire missiles shot out of the DeathStrike's open claw. Hippie-Hop ran and dodged all but a few of the oncoming missiles. "Stupid rain, I can't see." Numbuh Three complained.

######The limo ride was quiet as Jinkens drove through the rain-soaked streets. There was a sound-proof screen separating the driver from the passengers.   
  
Andy broke the silence, "I don't like that Mikey guy."   
  
His siblings had to agree.  
  
John's helmet sat in his lap. His dreadlocks hung down to his chin. He was unusual, as Delightful Children go. He was black, male with long hair, large diamond studs in his ears, a sapphire stud in his nose, and a silver ring peircing his eyebrow. Father had made him cover his head until he looked 'presentable', when he was adopted.   
  
It had been five years since he had his head uncovered in public with his family. The last time was when he was seven, and he was with some foster family.   
  
Ben, the oldest, spoke up. "Should we warn them?"   
  
That made the rest of his siblings speak in unison, again. "Why?!"  
  
"Father might be angry if someone else destroys the Kids Next Door. Had anyone forgotten what father is like when he is angry?"   
  
His siblings shook their heads. Then John spoke up, "Let's just drop a hint, ya know? Not actually help them or anything, just warn them."  
  
"Blasphemy! Help the Kids Next Door? They're the enemy!" Anne objected.  
  
"We could...." Andy said, stroking the black rubber duck he carried everywhere. "get to them first, or we just attack Mikey's goons, I mean, they're the enemy, too. We should call a truce. You know the saying..."   
  
"An enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine." The Delightful Children intoned together.  
  
Chelsea warned,"But what about Father? What would he think?"  
  
"Aw, if he don't know, then he can't care. Fuck that firey fuck!" John drawled.  
  
#########  
  
The battle wasn't going well for Hippie-Hop and Numbuh Three. The scorpion was a vastly superior mech, and it was mopping the floor with her. The DeathStrike's tail began to glow a bright green.   
  
"IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?!" The boy/metal scorpion raged.   
  
Numbuh Three had one last advantage. Full armor mode. The dented rabbit glowed red. The claws extended, its tail became a mace, the teeth sharpened, and guns came out of nowhere on the body.   
  
"HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW?!" The mutated rabbit bellowed. And with that, It charged.   
  
That was the worst thing the rabbit could do. The time it took to transform was enough for the DeathStrike to fire. A charged particle beam shot out of the tail, blasted Hippie-Hop's legs clean off, and the impact sent her into the clean, neat, orderly lawn next door._Examining object......Not a threat._The DeathStrike enjoyed a victory laughing. "TIME TO FINISH YOU OFF!" It gloated.   
  
"NO YOU DON'T!" Numbuh Five yelled. The scorpion turned to the voice. "Numbuh Five gonna get the whole tree on you!"   
  
She was perched on the main turrent command deck. All guns were turned on the devilish scorpion below her. "Fire!" She screamed.   
  
Nothing.   
  
"I DISABLED YOUR OFFENCES! DID YOU REALLY THINK I WAS THAT STUPID?" Spyder/DeathStrike growled.  
  
"Aw, Man..." Numbuh Five said, dejected.  
  
The DeathStrike advanced on the downed rabbit. "TIME TO FINISH YOU OFF." Deathstrike gloated._Examining Object.......Enemy...Terminate.......   
_All hell broke loose on the DeathStrike. Previously hidden turrents and missile silos blasted the scorpion to high heaven. An angel statue blasted lasers from it's eyes. Trees turned out to be fake, actually heat-seeking missiles. The scorpion went down in a beautiful spectacle of lights and sounds. The confused pilot screamed in pain.   
  
"WHAT'S GOING ON?!"   
  
Numbuh Three has going to eject, but after seeing the fireworks happening outside, she decided to watch in the safety of her fuzzy cockpit.  
  
"Ooo, pretty!"   
  
_Threat terminated._

* * *

What was that? Well, you'll just have to read. Thanks to all who plastered fake smiles on their faces and told me how great the story was. You were all a big help. Really. So, far, no flames, so that must mean that only lazy people hate the story, or I'm actually good at something. So, what attacked the DeathStrike? Read the next chapter, silly! So, until next time, remember what I told you, SOUP IS GOOD FOOD! 


	4. Freinds in low places

WELL! Here's Chaptuh Four! Enjoy! Kids next Door doesn't belong to me! Also, the fake smiles comment was a joke. Thanks to Cyber Commander, mistressmarionette, and the mysterious James Chapman for becoming avid readers! So you will all become my evil slaves so we can take over the worl...whoops! You're not supposed to know that yet. Anyway, on with the show!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The Four operatives of the Kids Next Door approached the downed robots with caution. Both looked pretty destroyed, but one couldn't be sure. Plus, the attacking lawn ornaments might turn on them. Numbuh Three burst out of the wreaked Hippie-Hop like nothing had ever happened.  
  
"Wee! Thank's Delightful Dorks!"  
  
"Thanks Delightful Dorks?!" Numbuh One sputtered. "What did they do to help?!"  
  
Numbuh Three giggled. "We landed in their yard, silly! They shoot at bad scorpion!" And with that, she skipped merrily back to the tree house.  
  
"What was she talking about?" Numbuh Four asked.  
  
"Never mind, Numbuh Four, let's apprehend Kazuo, maybe he can tell us something."  
  
With weapons backing him up, Numbuh Two tore the lid of the enemy mech's cockpit open.  
"Whoa." was all he said.  
  
Spyder lay unconscious, still cocooned in wires, dangling in the cockpit. The monitors hooked up to him from the wires confirmed that he was still alive. The activity in the cockpit confirmed the beast was still alive. At least, it seemed like a living creature.  
  
"I think I'm gonna be sick....." Numbuh Four said, turning away.  
  
"Is this thing, alive?" Numbuh Two asked.  
  
"How are we gonna get him outta there?" Numbuh Five asked.  
  
They examined the cockpit carefully, looking for a switch or something, to turn the DeathStriker off, or at least get Kazuo Vincenzo untangled.  
  
"Hmmm..." Numbuh Five mumbled. She reached down and carefully removed the wires connected to Spyder's sunglasses. Almost immediately, the wires retreated to wherever they had come from. The unconscious red pilot collapsed on the cockpit floor. The computer monitors and the camera view flickered to black.  
  
"Numbuh Two, get the SK.Y.C.L.A.W. So we can pick up this mess before those Delightful Children get this before we do."  
  
"Rodger!" Numbuh Two said, saluting.  
  
#########  
  
The Delightful Children came home to find that quite a battle had taken place in the area connecting the tree house with their home.  
"What happened here?" They all asked in unison. The answer dawned on them almost immediately. The distraction that Mikey had dispatched had attacked the Kids Next Door, and the battle had been resolved. All participating mechs had already been carted away, but the landscaped was still deeply scarred. The gardener was going to have a fit. This left the interesting question,  
  
Who had won?  
  
The Delightful Children from Down the Lane entered their domain. Entering what was called "The Children's Wing" of the house they dropped their stature. Instead of going their separate ways, as they usually did, they sat together in the lobby of the wing. Comfy chairs around a coffee table in front of the fireplace. A refrigerator sat in the far corner. They got sodas from the fridge and sat down. Ben got root beer, Anne got Sprite Remix, Chelsea got raspberry soda, Andy never got normal flavors, instead, he drank soda from some foreign place, and the can was covered in some strange language nobody could identify. According to him, though, it was rainbow flavored. Andy was strange, very strange. He sat his rubber duck on the table, and poured him a portion of his 'rainbow' soda in a shallow dish in front of the bath toy. The duck was as strange as Andy. It was a black Rubber Devil Duckie, and in case you've never seen one, they're black rubber ducks with evil eyes, red devil horns, a red tail, and a red bill. According to Andy, it was a trapped demon. He called it RDD for short. John was less crazy then Andy, and had Dr. B.  
  
"Let's talk about our current situation." Ben started.  
  
"Fuck the Kids Next Door! Let them get killed. It's not our problem." Anne said.  
  
"It will be if we're not the ones to get them first. Father will skin us alive if we don't kill them ourselves." Chelsea objected.  
  
"I have a score to settle with the Kids Next Door..." Ben muttered. "If they die, it'll be by MY hand." Ben growled, clenching his fist.  
  
"Not this division." Anne pointed out. "They weren't even out of training when....you know...."  
  
The Delightful siblings almost never talked about Former-Numbuh 273's decommission. That earned a whomping. And anyone whomped by Ben went to great lengths never to piss him off again.  
  
"Who cares? They'll all pay..." The tall boy growled.  
  
Chelsea wanted to change the subject, but it was of utmost importance. Ben was horrible when he was angry. Father was worse, but still.  
  
"Look, what's the trouble of forming an alliance with the Kids Next Door? What do we have to lose? John asked, sipping Dr. B. He was busily polishing his helmet, removing all scratches from any of today's wear and tear.  
  
"Our pride," Ben said, "Our dignity, our self-respect, our respect, the esteem of our allies, need I go on?"  
  
"Okay...okay..." John said.  
  
#########  
  
Conscience did not return as a friend. Spyder awoke in parts. The first thing he felt was the familiar nausea after piloting the DeathStriker, or any other mech he had made. His head hurt as well, another familiar thing. The next thing he felt was his battle wounds. His chest hurt, his arms hurt, his legs hurt, he was sure there were burns where the wires had constructed, or where electricity had burned him. He didn't want to open his eyes, for fear of where he was. More then once had the battle been over, and the effects of the drug had not worn off, even after him the mech and he had separated.  
  
........Stay down, Spyder, stay down...........He thought. He was grateful to feel sheets under his hands. That meant that someone had taken him in. He desperately tried to recall the events of the night before. He was sure it was morning, daytime at least. He felt sunlight on his face, and it was common for him to not wake for several hours after a battle.  
  
"Wake up."  
  
This was new. Someone was commanding, not asking, for him to wake up.  
  
If you take that attitude, then I'll just stay asleep. A little manner goes a long way, Spyder thought.  
  
"WAKE UP!"  
  
He felt someone punch him hard in the chest. His eyes flew open. The sunlight hurt his eyes. He wasn't wearing his sunglasses. He had Asian eyes.  
  
"WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?" The short orange guy bellowed, standing over him  
  
Thinking of something pithy to say, Spyder could only respond, "Fuck you."  
  
###################  
  
Morning was God's flashlight to The Kids Next Door's worst enemies, The Delightful Children From Down the Lane. Staying up all right was nothing new to them, but it still taxed their systems heavily. They wouldn't feel it until sometime this afternoon. A decision was made, "call a truce at the right time."  
  
When they were both in trouble, then they could call a truce, until then, they would only attack Mikey's henchmen. It would keep them from looking too friendly. Also, Father would be less furious if or when he found out. They were sure he'd find out, as his right hand, Cree, would snitch on them.  
  
They sat a breakfast, right across from Cree.  
  
"Morning guys. Did you guys stay up all night again?"  
  
"Just like most every night, Cree, sweetie."  
  
Cree shook her head. Those dorks. When did they sleep anyway? Every time she stayed the night here, after Abby and she had a big fight, she was sure to see them, alone or all together, wandering the halls at night. Andy, if that was his name, might have been the weirdest, but they were all freaks in her opinion. Who ate coffee creamer without coffee anyway?  
  
The Delightful Children all took a handful of creamer each (the powder kind) and managed to eat it all in one bite. Cree looked on in disgust.  
  
Seeing her sickened expression, they all said, "Mmmmmmmm!" together, looking her in the face.  
  
"Ya'll gross." She said, walking away.  
  
They had grossed out Cree on purpose, wanting her to go away. John thought she was hot, but she a sign that Father had lost faith in them, and that meant trouble. She had become a rival of sorts. And there was another thing they hated about her.  
  
She had betrayed her sister.  
  
Family was everything to the Delightful Children. And to Cree it seemed to mean nothing. It didn't matter that Abigail was an enemy; she was, but the fact that Cree was willing to fight her own sister. If you didn't have family, then what did you fall back on?  
  
Jinkens arrived with a real English breakfast; Father came downstairs with a newspaper. After the usual morning salutations, they ate, and then excused themselves.  
  
"Hold on."  
  
The Children froze. Father's word was law.  
  
"Yes?" They all said together. "I have a new machine for you. To destroy those pesky Kids Next Door. Meet me in the battle room."  
  
Probably another weapon, but they don't work. They thought unanmiously, how come Cree doesn't need weapons? Ben thought, I was an operative, too. C'mon! I'm the strongest operative who ever lived! It was true. He held the current Kids Next Door Heavy Lifting belt. His record lay unbroken for five years. Father didn't think they were strong enough! With all of Cree's accomplishments, it made Father's real children feel quite useless. Well, enough of that! They were going to show Father that they were every bit as strong as his new prodigy. Ben signed that to his siblings, and they unanimously agreed. The delightful children had an unspoken language of hand gestures. This was the secret to speaking in unison; Make hand signs into each other's hands or back, and then they all knew what to say at the right moment. Also, if they weren't together, they could always talk to each other in public, where they were supposed to be one voice. The hand signs actually magnified the creepiness they all radiated. As they walked, Ben's deep, clear voice mumbled/sung the chorus of one of his favorite songs, Daisy Duke by Rooney,  
"You don't know me so well, I think you know that now, I'm unbreakable, there's no need for fragile stickers, you're too young for me, but I can keep a secret, I'm in total control, of the situation...."  
  
The song was a theme of sorts for Ben. He loved to sing.  
They met their Father in the battle room. Before Father could talk, Ben stepped forward.  
  
"Father? If I could make a suggestion..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Long Chapter! Well, now we know a few things about what's behind those blue eyes. Next Chapter, we get to see the real talents of the Delightful Children. So now, my children of the corn, remember, BRUSH YOUR TEETH BEFORE YOU GO TO BED! 


	5. Big Ben the invincible

The last chapter kinda sucked, so here's the action packed fifth chapter! I don't own Kids Next Door, but that won't stop me!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Interrogations were not going very well. Spyder answered all of their questions with his own.  
  
"Who are you working for?"  
  
"Why do you want to know?"  
  
"Tell me who you're working for!"  
  
"Who are YOU working for?!"  
  
This was going nowhere. Spyder was totally uncooperative. Numbuh One was *this* close to actually hitting him.  
  
Luckily for Nigel, he didn't have to worry about Spyder for now.  
  
The alarms had gone off, and all operatives were in the main room, ready for what might attack. The Door was kicked down. It looked like a teenager. He was tall and noodle-like; his brown hair was longish and spiked. He wore combat boots and black pants. His shirt was green and said, "I carry no Ca$h." His sky blue eyes were burning with wild destruction.  
  
"A teenager?! Kids Next Door, battle stations!" Numbuh One barked.  
  
"I look like a teenager? I'm only twelve. My name is "Big" Ben. Father's ideas were a total flop, so now I'm here to take you on myself. C'mere you little turds!" He growled.  
  
"Nice hair, so, one of you Delightful Dorks has decided to take us on all by yourselves?! HA! That's a good one. You're dead meat, Noodle-boy." Numbuh Four taunted.  
  
"Attack!" yelled Numbuh One. All of the operatives charged for the tall pre-teen. Numbuh Four jumped for his head, and was punched out of the air. Numbuh Two tried to tackle him, but was kicked away. Numbuh three tried a high kick to the head, but was grabbed by the ankle and tossed like a rag doll. Numbuh Five went in for a karate chop, was blocked, grabbed by the wrist, and was used to knock Numbuh Four into a wall when he tried a second attempt to punch the tall boy.  
  
This wasn't funny, Big Ben hadn't even moved from the doorway and the operatives were getting the pulp beat out of them.  
  
#########  
  
Spyder was surprised that the Kids Next Door actually kept their vents large enough to crawl through. He figured that this was a last ditch escape route. Never mind, thought he. First things first, get his swords. They belong to his grandfather, and thus were very important to him. Luckily, his glasses had been left by the table and were able to receive them successfully. He always felt naked without them. As for his hat, he had no idea were it was.  
  
He was sure that his swords were in Nigel's room. Getting there was no problem, however, as the air with Nigel's scent was pointing him right to the room. Being a professional, he had fine tuned his senses. Also, the drugs he had pumped himself full of hadn't worn off. Dropping into Nigel's room, he wondered what he could steal. Anything of value? 2x4 technology was worth about spit, but the information on them.......  
  
#########  
  
The Kids Next Door were doing abousolutly horrible against Ben. He was enormously strong. Gum ball bullets weren't hurting him in the least. He broke out of ice faster then the DeathStrike. Eating utensils hurt him, but then he always threw them back. He advanced in the tree house, noting how much it had changed. Sure, he had been in here several times, but he had never noted the surroundings. The technology had improved greatly, but the main room had stayed mostly the same. Grabbing Kuki, he hurled her into Numbuh Five. The momentum caused them both to roll down a flight of stairs.  
  
Good, Two brats down, three to go.  
  
Hoagie charged, firing the coke bottle laser. His shots were so wild; it was easy to maneuver out of the way. He ducked under the last laser shot, and came in for a roundhouse kick to Hoagie's large gut, the movement of which sent the large kid flying into the wall. The impact made a sickening thud. He slid to the ground, defeated.  
  
Now just two...  
  
Nigel had stayed out of the fight, hoping his teammates would finish the berserk not-so-Delightful Child off. Now that he had finished off three of his companions off, it seemed that the saying relating to strength in numbers definitely didn't apply.  
  
"Nigel Uno..." Ben's voice trailed off. Suddenly, Nigel was lifted into the air with one hand until his face was level with Ben's. Nigel couldn't see much, as most of his field of vision was covered by Ben's immensely powerful hand. He felt several blows to the stomach, as well as hearing Ben's deep, sickening laughter. The wind was out of him by the first blow, but Ben wasn't satisfied.  
  
Numbuh One noticed that Ben was walking. As he walked, he sang, Nigel was sure he heard the song somewhere. Ben's singing voice was clear and surprisingly pleasant.  
  
"I want to know, all there's to know about you, I want you to know, nothing about me, although, I'll give you a taste, when you think that you know me, I'll blow you away, so baby, bow down daisy duke...."  
  
Then he sang the chorus.  
  
"You don't know me so well, I think you know that now, I'm unbreakable, there's no need for fragile stickers, you're too young for me, but I can keep a secret, I'm in total control, of the situation, bow down Daisy Duke"  
  
The chorus had truth to it, Ben had won. He stopped. Then he hurled Nigel down the stairs.  
  
The initial impact hurt, but so did rolling down the hard wooden planks. Numbuh One finally came down to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. He cursed whoever made these long, winding, hard, sharp, stairs. He couldn't move, he felt like he was dying, trying desperately to suck in air.  
  
He didn't get the chance, as he was crushed but the weight of the tall Delightfully demented boy. Ben had jumped from the top of the stairs, and in a few bounds, had landed on the glorious leader of the Kids Next Door. Fate was being too cruel, as Numbuh One hadn't been knocked out yet. Ben lifted the pre-teen leader by his red turtleneck sweater, swung him around over his head, and flung him back up the stairs. Since the stairs were winding, Nigel hit the wall and landed on the steps. Ben stormed up the steps and tried again. This time, Nigel actually landed on the floor, not more steps. Bruised and beated, Nigel definitely didn't seem like the guy that had sent the attacker's group running with their tails between their legs.  
  
Ben walked coolly up the stairs, singing a new song, Walking Alone, by Greenday.  
  
".....Walk on eggshells on my old stomping ground, yet there's really no one left, that's hanging around. Isn't that another familiar face? Too drunk to figure out they're fading away. Sometimes I need to apologize. Sometimes I need to admit that I ain't right. Sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut, or only say hello. Sometimes I still feel I'm walking alone. "  
  
As his head appeared over the stairs, he came face to face with Wallaby Beatles. He had no time to say anything.  
  
"Take this!" Numbuh Four said, blasting Ben right in the face. Ben screamed in pain as he fell down the stairs. The hooded operative quickly slammed the door leading to the stairs the berserk Delightful Child just fell down. Numbuh Four grabbed his fallen leader and sat him down on the couch.  
  
Just then, Ben kicked down that door as well. He was bruised. His eyes showed explosive fury. The door hit the floor and shattered in a frightening crack. Wood shards flew everywhere.  
  
"I'm gonna skin you alive and eat your bones!" He bellowed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Holy Crap! Looks like Ben is going to tear the KND apart! Will the KND live through this? Of course they will, but how? 


	6. Don't beat yourself up, let us help

There are some contradictions between Numbuhs to Delightful Children. TV Tome gives each KND a different counterpart. Here's my list.  
  
1. Ben (Tall guy, the leader. in GROWUP, he grabbed the keys.)  
  
2. Anne (Brown hair, glasses, and fat like Numbuh Two)  
  
3. Chelsea (She looks like Numbuh Three)  
  
4. Andy (Looks like Numbuh Four)  
  
5. John 'Pinball' Little (black, wears a red helmet while Numbuh Five wears a red hat.)  
  
Thanks to all who have given me input. Owning Kids Next Door would make me cry with tears of joy, but I am a dry-eyed writer who doesn't own KND. I haven't been updating, as I was watching my brother die at the hands of KH Sephroph.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ben loomed menacingly over the short, blond fighter. He actually looked like he was going to honor the threat he had made.  
  
Numbuh Four hid any terror. His hardened eyes gave nothing away. He held his coke bottle laser close. Ben's face was slightly singed, but other then that, he looked more angry then hurt. He was bruised all over, and he looked bloodthirsty.  
  
"You shot me....in the face.......you'll sorely regret that." Ben growled.  
  
With a mighty grunt he punched the floor, sending planks into the air. Wood splinters filled the air. A nice new hole was formed on the tree house floor. The impact sent Numbuh Four flying. He landed some four feet away. Ben jumped to crush the orange operative, only to hit the hardwood floor, as Numbuh Four rolled out of the way. He shot the tall boy in the chest.  
  
Ben grunted in pain. As he grabbed, and missed, for the short fighter. Wallabe grappled Ben's outstretched hand and used it to pull him over himself and land a high kick to Ben's stomach. He shot him in the stomach with the laser, which caused Ben to howl in pain. Ben wrenched his hand free of Numbuh Four's grip. Then he grabbed the operative's wrists, lifted in the air and slammed him hard on his back. Ben lifted and dropped his foot down on the operative to crush him, but Numbuh Four's foot raised up to meet his. He smiled as he kicked up to trip the taller boy by sending his leg into the air. It almost worked as Ben was still holding on to Numbuh Four. Ben lost his balance, which was enough for Numbuh Four to land sufficient blows to the larger boy.  
  
#################  
  
Spyder could carry relatively little, but he downloaded troves worth of information onto a small disk. His glasses scanned enough of the tree house to give almost a complete detailed blue print. His boss would be very pleased indeed. Now for an escape. He needed a distraction. He considered feigning an attack so the Punks Next Door would be sufficiently distracted for his escape, but luckily, feigning an attack wouldn't be necessary, as one was approaching.  
  
##################  
  
So far, the two boys seemed evenly matched. Ben was incredibly powerful, but Numbuh Four was more agile, and faster. The two were so engrossed in their match that they failed to notice when Numbuhs Three and Five had made a recovery.  
  
"You...little...punk." Ben panted. Beating the tar out of Five operatives was hard, especially ones that wouldn't go down, like this one.  
  
"Freaking...Dork..." Numbuh Four was equally tired. "Big" Ben was proving to be just about invincible. Sure, he was winding down, but Numbuh Four didn't have much fight left. Luckily for him, though, Calvary was here.  
  
Numbuh Five fired a shot to her enemy's back. With his endurance winding down, Ben was far more vulnerable to attacks. She hit right at a wound. Ben screamed in pain. He turned around to face the ebony operative. With the look on his face, Numbuh Five was sure judgment day had come for her at last.  
  
Ben had no time do dish out more punishment, as something blasted it's way through a wall in the tree house. It was the four remaining Delightful Children in large drill-like machine.  
  
The cockpit opened, and Andy moved his arms franticly in some non- verbal language. Ben answered back in the same, silent sign language. It didn't look like American Sign Language.  
  
'What are you doing here?!' Ben signed frantically.  
  
'Father is most furious! He told us to come get you! Taking off on your own like that a resorting to barbaric violence is going to give us a bad reputation!' Andy signed  
  
'I'm trying to prove a point!' Ben signed back. 'And don't sign so close!'  
  
Numbuh Three watched this all with innocent interest. What were the Delightful Dorks doing? It looked like fun! Why not try it?  
  
The Delightful Children looked on in fear of what Numbuh Three signed. This made them speak in unison again.  
  
"Kids Next Door...Battle Stations!? I thought only we knew these signs?" The yelled frantically.  
  
Numbuh Three wondered what the Delightful Children were so worried about. He moved her hands in nonsense, yet they got so worked up over what she was doing.  
  
"Anyway," The four Delightful Children said. "Come Ben," They said, offering their hands, "You did a good job weakening them, now let's finish them off. The Delightful way." They finished with one of their monotonous cackles.  
  
"Fine..." Ben said indifferently.  
  
"All right, then!" His siblings said, raising the drill claw to attack.  
  
"Hold On!" Ben yelled, "Let me get inside first, Dorkasses!"  
  
He mumbled incoherent, dirty things as he climbed the drill monster. He placed himself rightfully behind everyone else, next to John.  
  
"Kids Next Door... Any last requests?" They intoned mockingly. When no replay came, All but Ben said,  
  
"Wow, Ben, you really beat the tar out of them. They can barely stand, let alone fight."  
  
Numbuh One had already drifted into unconsciousness, Numbuh Two hadn't gotten up yet, Numbuhs Four and Five looked on their last legs. Numbuh Three looked tired, but not beaten. But they were sure she wouldn't pose much of a problem.  
  
The Drilled machine looked almost humanoid. There was a central cockpit as the chest, with drills as hands, and clawed crusher feet. The cockpit had another large drill on top of it.  
  
"So, it was YOU who sent that Spyder guy to destroy us is that it?!" Numbuh Four yelled to the monster above him.  
  
"Who's Spyder?" they asked as the monster's drill hand came in the crush him. He jumped out of the way, just in time. If things went the right way, they wouldn't even have to deal with Mikey and his goons. Mikey wouldn't get his revenge, and they would finally be free of the Kids Next Door.  
  
Numbuh Four rolled away, this wasn't good. The team was still weak from Ben's assault. If things went as they always did, The Kids Next Door would be done for. Numbuh Four fired his laser, but it didn't seem to have much affect. The enemy continued to cackle menacingly as they aimed for him again.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Holy Christwagons! The whole family is now cracking down on the poor kids next door. How will they get out of this one? And what about Spyder? 


	7. Out of the frying pan

Seventh Holy chaptuh is up! And muh brotherfinnally beat KH Sephroth! By the way, I got it from Numbuh Eleventy Billion, aka Mr. Warburton, that the DCFDTL TV Tome names are incorrect. (Wow, that's a lot of operatives to get up to that numbuh.) Please don't flame me for this. He didn't say their real names, either. And the Helmet Guy has a name, we find out later (Operation coffee?)  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Coming down for another assault, Numbuh Four dodged again.  
  
"Hey! Stay still so we can kill you!" The frustrated Delightful Children said.  
  
Numbuh Four was practally beaten, but he wasn't going to let that defeat him. He'd rather commit suicide then lose or admit defeat.  
  
Numbuh Two had finally gotten up. He had been propped against a wall, but woke up when a drilled hand demolished the wall behind him.  
  
"Holy Crap! What's going on?!" The fight scene gave a clear answer. He shot lasers at the drilled machine, only to have it notified of his presence.  
  
"You should have stayed down, Hoagie. Now you'll die like the rest of your little friends...." The Creepy Clan intoned together. They tried to hit the large pilot, but luckily, Numbuh Five jumped on Numbuh Two, and they rolled to saftly.  
  
"Come on Kids Next Door, won't you play with us?!" The Delightful Children Form down the Lane Said, their eyes alight for once with an appetite for destruction. Their sickening laughter resounded off the walls of the tree house.  
  
#################  
  
Spyder grabbed his swords and cut a neat hole out of the floor and jumped in. He traveled through the strong branches and underbrush of the fake tree supporting the KND base. He listened to the battle raging inside the base above him. Finding the loudest spot, he found a comfortable brace and waited for the outcome.  
  
################  
  
Numbuh Five was having a hell of a time trying to find a weakness. So far, the thing looked impenetrable. She was grateful that Numbuh Three was keeping those Creepy Kids busy. Numbuh Five happened to look down and see the holes Ben had punched into the floor. It gave her an idea.  
  
"Keep 'em busy guys!" Numbuh Five screamed as she shot away the wood around Ben's holes. The lasers weren't effective against the drill monster, but it did remarkably well against the wood floor. When she got it large enough, she ran into other middle of the chaos.  
  
"Hey Delightful Dorks, Numbuh Five got a present for ya!" she yelled, running to the hole.  
  
"Stupid girl, adrenaline must have gone to her head." They said, shaking their heads. The monster stepped forward. Right on the hole.  
  
"Later, Delightful Children!" Numbuh Five said, waving.  
  
"Huh?!" They intoned together. Hearing wood splintering, they looked down. They instantly saw the problem. The wood around the large hole was too weak to support the weight of the weapon.  
  
"Crap." The Delightful Children from down the lane said as the floor gave way, and the monster fell to the ground several stories and was crushed.  
  
#############  
  
Spyder was grateful the mech hadn't fallen through on him. He was tempted to look in on the battle by staring through the holes. He was glad he didn't. He stared down at the monster machine below him. The Delightful Children looked dazed, but they managed to climb out of the cockpit. They stared ashamed at the ground, and for a moment, Spyder almost felt sorry for them. Almost. He wasn't here to feel pity. He needed an escape.  
  
"Father will be...most furious when he finds out about this..." The Delightful Children moped.  
  
"I knew my idea was better..." Ben said.  
  
"Let's just go." Andy said.  
  
Spyder was grateful to the Delightful Children, they had helped his escape. He would thank them later.  
  
The Delightful Children went one way, Spyder went in the other. His boss would be most pleased.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
How's that? Well, I have nothing snappy to say, as I have a weird cult ROTC thing tomorrow, so this is Nicotine Dragon, Signing off. 


	8. With freinds like these, who needs enemi...

The eighth chapter! This story has been getting long, hasn't it?  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Night fell on the Tree House and its grim occupants. Numbuh One wasn't up yet, and they had a lot of repairs to do on the base. Not to mention that they had lost their captive in the battle.  
  
"Numbuh Five is sure those Delightful dorks were behind this, they even let Spyder out."  
  
"Man, that tears it! Those Delightful Dorks are gonna pay!" Numbuh Four screamed, throwing down his hammer. He paced around the room in that angry way of his.  
  
"Calm down, Numbuh Four, we can't get back at them yet, Numbuh One hasn't woken up yet..." Numbuh Two tried to calm Numbuh Four down.  
  
Numbuh Three was the medic, she returned from the room they were keeping Numbuh One in. She looked sad.  
  
"I patched him up best as I could, but he isn't up yet." Numbuh Three said, holding her hat in her hands.  
  
"LET"S GO AND KICK THEIR PRISSY BUTTS!" Numbuh Four raged, he already gotten up and pulled up his sleeves and was walking towards the door, when Numbuh Five stopped him.  
  
"Hold On, Numbuh Four. Not until everythin's taken care of here. We still need to take care of repairs, then we need to fix Numbuh One, then we need to THINK of a counterstrike!"  
  
"Hmph!" Numbuh Four grunted, walking back to the place we was repairing. He mumbled incoherent, dirty things as he continued to mend the tree house.  
  
"What happened? I feel like I was hit by an ice cream truck." Numbuh One stood in the doorway. He looked better, although covered in bandages. He was standing upright, at least, and his glasses were perched rather awkwardly on his nose, the bandages positioning them in a rather odd way.  
  
"NUMBUH ONE!" his teammates chorused, glad to see their leader was somewhat okay.  
  
"Ben's creepy clan showed up. They attacked, and we managed to beat them by collapsing the floor." Numbuh Five said, summing it up into one sentence.  
  
Numbuh One felt guilty for sleeping the day away while his teammates worked hard with injuries, I might add, to fix the tree house. He limped over to where NumbuhFour had been working to repair the floor. Before he had even picked up the hammer, Numbuh Five pulled him to his feet. She pushed the protesting leader to his room, saying, "Nuh-uh, you got the most injuries out of all of us! You need some sleep!" She send him to bed, closing the door behind her.  
  
"Man, he must think he's invincible!" Numbuh Five said, getting back to work.  
  
A long silence streaked between the friends. It was quiet, except for the construction noise. There were no words to break the silence.  
  
#############  
  
Spyder stopped for a moment and stared up at the heavens. Night. He sighed, his mother would be furious for coming home late. Probably be throwing things while his father and mother's father looked on with silent amusement. Asian moms were the worst when it came to discipline. His only option would be taking the bus. The bus. A form of transportation and amusement, all rolled into one. The mongrels of America took the bus. Businessmen took the bus. An entire look at American culture could be found on the bus. Hobos, hippies, potheads, druggies, musicians, revolutionaries, preachers. Conservatives and liberals. Catholics and protestant, Muslims and Jews. A look into American society. And all for a quarter.  
  
Spyder sat on the hard fake leather seats of the bus, and examined his surroundings. A Goth boy sat not too far from him. He was milk white, with yellow eyes and shiny black hair that fell to his chin. He wore an unbuttoned black jacket resembling a military uniform dress jacket, but for the red star emblazoned on the right arm. Under that, he wore a short sleeved dress shirt with a plaid red tie with a jolly Rodger. Black pants and shiny, mirror-like combat boots completed the look. On the collar of the jacket, a red pin said, 'I am loved.' Next to the gothic boy, sat the Tolinater. Spyder had heard of the Tolinater having a weird son, but not very many had actually seen him. He was a teenager, went to an entirely different high school, and as a teenager, he never took the time to bother with the neighborhood kids. But here he must be. Discussing something with his father. Spyder wondered what it was. Well, none of his business. He got off at the next stop.  
  
Dinner was quiet. A form of silent punishment for Spyder, and he knew. Dinner was Japanese-style, sitting on mats. A scene right out of an anime. Except spaghetti and fettuccini was served alongside pot stickers and egg rolls. Vintage wine alongside green tea. Okay, his diet was a bit weird, with Italian and Japanese cooking in a single meal, but you probably have a meal that stands for health and happiness and fond memories that most wouldn't approach with a bomb squad and a Geiger counter. Spyder hoped that Mikey or some of his other cohorts would be on the computer. He had much to talk about. He wanted DeathStrike back and new information would greatly help *la causa. He knew, however that Clover wouldn't be available, for she had a mission tonight.  
  
#################  
  
The Delightful Children lay panting on the floor. Punishment had been severe. Although nothing was broken this time around. Getting first aid was a must. Ben had suffered the most. Insubordination was unspeakable. Ben could hardly breathe, let alone speak. He was bleeding all over, bruised and beaten; he thought he looked worse then Numbuh One. Well, KND missions must have gotten easier over time, because what ever Ben had done to Nigel was light compared to what Father had done to him now. Even when on missions, Ben had felt worse. The KND must be getting softer, he thought through all the pain. Ben was unable to stand; his siblings had to carry him to their wing of the house. Anne patched him up. They carefully sipped drinks, quietly. Andy seemed to be having a conversation with himself. His lips moving, but no sound coming out, and staring into space. Chelsea listened to techno and John was removing the scratches from his helmet. Chelsea was redoing the John's hair. She sung very quietly to Daft Punk's Digital Love.  
  
"Last night, I had a dream about you, in this dream; I'm dancing right besides you. It looked, like everyone was having fun, the kind of feeling, I've waited so long for. Don't stop, come a little closer, as we jam, the rhythm gets stronger."  
  
Ben joined in, singing, "There's nothing wrong, with just a little, little, fun. We were dancing, all night long. The time is right, to put my arm around you, you're feeling right, you wrap your arm around, too. But suddenly, I feel the shiny sun. Before you know it, the dream is all gone."  
  
They were feeling better thanks to the music, so they turned it up. They were too busy licking their wounds that they didn't notice the figure sneak into the manner.  
  
Andy suddenly spoke up. "Everyone. Get down. Hind under something. I think I felt a shock wave." Andy was weird, but he made plenty of hunches. And they were usually right. With that logic, they turned over the couch and covered together for comfort.  
  
###########  
  
The silent working hours were suddenly interrupted with a deafing blast. It seemed like all hell had broken loose. Volcanic eruption, Earthquake, Flooding. All were comparable to the sound. The blast pushed the children some narrowly avoiding falling into the hole. The loud bang woke the sleeping Numbuh One up. He got up. By getting up. He GOT UP. The blast sent him out of his bed, and into his desk.  
  
"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!" All operatives seemed to say together. They rushed over to the window where the blast seemed to have some from. There was billowing smoke, and a glow that seemed to be fire. And it was coming from Delightful Manner.  
  
They ran to the scene, 2x4 technology armed and with all the spirt of marine recruits. Numbuh One partially had to be tied to the bed to keep from going. The damage was worse at ground zero. Half the manner was gone. A remaining third was on fire. Fire trucks were already on scene, and someone was being rushed away on a stretcher. The young operatives looked over. It was Father, looking a lot less intimidating injured and unconscious on a stretcher. Cree was running alongside the paramedics.  
  
"Don't worry, Father, you'll be okay! I'll take care of everything!" She said before she was guided away from the ambulance. Numbuh Five looked peeved. They looked for the remaining members of the household. Maids and butlers giving and receiving first aid. Chaos was everywhere. They were finally able to find the Delightful Children, humbled by the blast, and with injuries. Their expression changed, however, when they saw their greatest rivals. They went from utter shock and pain to a neutral angry look. Their voices dripped with sarcasm; however, they felt it was unnecessary to speak in unison. Why? Give them a real shock. Andy clutched his arm in pain, but removed his hand and stared at the blood. Finally, he offered the bloody hand to his enemies.  
  
"What? Surprised that we're normal children that bleed too?" He asked. His twin sister laughed. They all sat under a tree, with John's head hidden by the shadow of it. His helmet was off, and he was trying to glue the shattered pieces back together. The effort was heroic, but in vain. Ben smiled wickedly at them. Anne couldn't give them the time of day, as she was too busy trying to patch up her sibling's wounds, ignoring her own.  
  
"Hey, let me help." Numbuh Three said, sympathetically. They were too tired to care, or they were actually grateful for her help, they let the Asian operative help clean the mess. Numbuh Five was quite sure that most of their injuries weren't from the explosion. With everyone being sympathetic, Numbuh Four was the only one to notice the green-haired girl from the bar, straight from across the street.  
  
'Hey!" He yelled the green haired girl ran, and the operatives perused. This green girl wasn't giving up. They were running for a full block, then two. Numbuh Two had to drop out of the chase and rest. This girl was doing everything in her power to avoid capture, she threw things in their way, trash cans, outside toys, other kids. Finally, they came to a cemetery. The other operatives were too tired, now, and the green girl was gaining distance.  
  
Some blue things streaked past them, and tackled the green girl, next to a family plot. Interrogations were already underway when the Kids Next Door got there. Numbuh Five caught up with the quintet. She decided it was wise to stay quiet. Chelsea turned the tackled girl over and gasped.  
  
"Clover!?"  
  
Clover gave a meek smile and an apologetic smirk. "I'm sorry, Chelsee' jus' doin' mah job." That got Chelsea going. The pounded her fists everywhere she could on Clover. "You bitch, you bitch, you bitch, you bitch, you bitch, YOU BITCH, YOU BITCH!!" she screamed. "WHY?!" she sobbed.  
  
"B'cause it's mah job, Chelsea," The Irish lass said weakly. "Mikey told me..."  
  
"Mikey!? You're in with THAT freak?" Chelsea gasped. Clover could only nod.  
  
"GAHHH!" The petite blond screamed to the sky. "God. Dammit."  
  
############  
  
Drama! Well, turns out Chelsea and Clover are/were friends. Now what will happen? 


	9. Strength In Numbuhs

The ninth chaptuh is here! Neat huh? I have a series with a fanbase! Glad to hear everyone likes my story. And to Shadw, There are no pairings in this story, but...well...you'll see.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"How could you?" Chelsea said. "Throw your lot in with Mikey? That slimeball?" Clover was almost the only friend Chelsea had. While everyone avoided her and her clan, she treated her like an individual. Chelsea had met her when she sneaked out and had gone to an arcade. She was playing Pump it Up and had gotten a C in Doubles.   
  
"It's complex, Chellsee, But I 'ave a good reasin, I really do. I can' say, but id'll all be clearer, later. I'll swear it." Clover said sadly. "I'm really sorry."   
  
John spoke up, "'Sorry' ain't gonna bring the manner back. Father's in the hospital." He was wearing a new helmet. His room hadn't been damaged, and he grabbed a helmet and caught up with the group.   
  
"I'm sorry about your buddy betraying you, Chel, but we haven't a place to stay." Anne piped up. "That's more important right now." Her siblings agreed.   
  
John turned to Numbuh Five. "Man, Abby, you see our problem. We need a place to crash. So how about in exchange for that Irish lass over there, and cleaning that mess, we get made, you make with some lodgein'. Deal?"   
  
"An enemy of our enemy is a friend of ours." The Delightful Children intoned. The rest of the siblings except Chelsea extended their hands as well. The petite girl just stared into the distance, looking sad and hurt. With Ben's help, Chelsea got to her feet. And with one hand, Ben raised Clover to her feet. She was helpless, as Ben was holding her by one of her feet with one hand. Clover mumbled obscenities as she dangled in the air. John undid his tie and used it to tie a square knot around their new captive's hands; and Andy's tie bound her feet. She didn't put up any resistance. John held her by her shoulders and ben eased her to the ground so she was standing.   
  
"Have we got a deal?" The Delightful Children from Down the Lane asked, extending their hands.   
  
"Man...." Numbuh Five said. She stared at the ground, wondering what Numbuh One would say at a time like this. He would agree with a treaty as long as he had to.   
  
Numbuh Five slapped Andy's palm. "We'll team up." She said. "Numbuh Five means, we're both going for the same thing, right? Until we catch the guy."   
  
"That's right...Numbuh Five." They said, obviously calling her by her code name to be freindly. Maybe too freindly. Numbuh Four had been leaning on someone's headstone, watching all of this. He hated those Delightful Dorks, but the opportunity to get another hostage and get the base fixed was too much to pass up.   
  
"So, you're not the ones sending us all this trouble, eh?" The orange clad operative asked, his tone less then freindly. He refused to look his new allies in the face, and found a nearby headstone much easier to fix his gaze on. Numbuh Three jumped down from the angel she was pertched on. "Yaaay! We got new freinds!" She squealed. Then she individually shook the hands of each and every Delightful Child. They looked at her with a profound interest, but manitained a neutrel expression on their faces.   
  
##################  
  
Mikey was getting worried. Clover should be back by now, or at least checked in. Spyder had sent an email, and Giovanni was sitting across from him. It wasn't like Clover to do this; she always called if she was going to be late. She was late quite often, but she always called. What had happened? Mikey's private office and main base was an out of business Italian restaurant. Once you got everything working again, it was amazing what you could do with the place. He had bought it and paid for the utilities himself. His income had come from selling stolen candy and profiting after the Operation:ISCREAM.   
  
"Giovanni? Dove si trova Clover?" Mikey asked in Italian.   
  
Giovanni just shrugged. Normally, Mikey would had become enraged that a subordinate didn't answer him back verbally, but he let it slide. Giovanni was a quiet person by nature. And a liability. Mikey wasn't about to kill off one of his best men because he didn't have much to say. He never did, anyway. Giovanni Panzanelli. The best right hand man gangster kid any guy could want. And an Italian to boot. Sure, he was Roman, Mikey was Sicilian, but you couldn't have everything.   
  
"Signore' Ragazzi." Mikey turned to the voice. It was Count Spankalot. Mikey was suprised with his ability to speak rudimentary Italian. He didn't want to know where he had picked it up.  
  
"Si?"   
  
"I have bad news."   
  
"Nessuna nuova, buona nuova." Mikey said, shaking his head. "Go on." He switched to and from languages easily, having no accent from either. He took pride in that.   
  
The count looked nervous. "Well, you see, Those Delightful Children From Down the Lane, they seem to have teamed up with The Kids Next Door."   
  
"Ha!" Mikey laughed. "Un aspetto insignificante. What do they have to my assassins? All the technology they have pales in comparison to mine." Then he laughed arrogantly, leaning back in his chair.   
  
"Non cada." Giovanni said softly, which made Mikey smile. Giovanni's voice carried a hint of an accent from his homeland of Italy. It was soft, and calm. He vary rarely rasied his voice.   
  
Sitting at another table, Knightbrace sipped water. The world of sugary drinks was forbidden to him. Giovanni really creeped him out. His father had been a CEO at some important company, and had mysteriously disappeared. Giovanni looked like him, creeping him out, and that SCAR. It didn't belong on a child. He wondered where he had got it, but after seeing Mikey's expression with hair, Knightbrace didn't want to pry. He knew better.  
  
"I am not yet done, signore." The Count spoke up.   
  
"Eh? Well, go on..." Mikey said, expression not changing.   
  
"My chill-dren of they night have reported that..." The count trailed off.  
  
"Well?!" Mikey said, getting impatient.  
  
"The Kids Next Door and the Delightful Children From Down The Lane have captured Clover."   
  
Mikey sat up, putting all legs of the chair on the floor. He knocked over his vanilla soda.  
  
"God damn it! Those pricks got Clover!? That's it, we're mobilizing our weapon tonight! Get Spyder!" Mikey raged. It was one thing for Spyder to get caught, he was a friend. But Clover was special. It wasn't because she was a girl, and therefore weaker. She had beat Mikey several times. But Clover....Mikey didn't want to think of something bad happening to her. He stared down at the brown puddle, his olive hands getting wet and sticky.   
  
Giovanni was extremely level headed. Mikey was the leader, and Giovanni was the second in command. "Boss." he called, to get the red head's attention. His arms were folded across his chest. "Perhaps it would be prudent if we waited for the weapon to be finished before we did anything hastily." Mikey turned his poisonous gaze to the suited boy standing across from him. Giovanni continued, "Clover is a very smart and talented girl, she'll be fine. Don't forget, Chelsea will give Clover more then enough chances to escape. Just wait."   
  
#################  
  
Numbuh One was not pleased. He was not pleased at all. The enemy was living under the headquarter's roof. And just hours ago, one of them put him in the condition he was in. The bald operative could think of a thousand more reasons not to help them; He did have to admit, however, ten people working together got a lot more accomplished. Then Kids Next Door were fixing on side of the floor, while the Delightful Children Down the Lane were on the other side, both working towards the center. To easien the truce, the Delightful Children brought Barbecue and fried chicken with all the fixings. Junk food and soda was also provided. Even so, the Kids Next Door were subjected to THEIR music. All burned. This took some getting used to. Techno tracks next to opera next to punk rock, next to heavy metal next to pop next to rap. The music followed no pattern. They were listening to One Winged Angel (orchestrated version) from Final Fantasy VII when Numbuh One finally had cooled down enough to face his former arch rivals. He was mad at Numbuh Five for agreeing without first consulting him. Nigel looked to the boom box playing the music. The next track was Left Behind, by Slipknot.  
  
Numbuh One looked like someone was stepping on his foot. He didn't even try to hid his pained expression on his face, like this was torture for his ears. "What. Is that?"  
  
"It's a Boom Box, Nigel." the family intoned together.  
  
"Yes, I see. What's that noise?"  
  
"Music."  
  
"You're joking."  
  
"It's called Heavy Metal and it's soothing." Andy said, "Seeing as we're staying here, and not with Father, we couldn't pass up the opertunity to listen to our own music out in the open."   
  
"I like it!" Numbuh Three said, which suprised everyone. "It's spooky!" she said, gleefully.  
  
Numbuh Four didn't want to admit it. But Delightful music wasn't half bad. He --- heaven forbid--- was starting to enjoy this song.   
  
"As I close my eyes, I feel it all slipping away..." the vocals screamed over the loud drums and guitars.   
  
Numbuh One kept his ears covered as he walked over to the music emmiting device, and, using his foot, changed the song. This time the song was much more tolerable, Funeral of Hearts, by HIM.   
  
"Love's the funeral of hearts, And an ode for cruelty,When angels cry blood, On flowers of evil in bloom" The song was much softer, but Numbuh One didn't like any of what The Delightful Children listened to. At least this was quieter. Nigel left to work on the data reports.  
  
##########  
  
"With the help of our enemy, The Delightful Children From Down the Lane, we captured one of the enemy, Clover O'Donnal, a constant problem for the Kids Next Door. She is currently incarcerated at our headquarters. In exchange for their sevices, The Delighful Children From Down the Lane are also staying her, as their base was recently victim of a terrorist attack, Clover O'Donnal being the culprit. " Numbuh One wrote. Clover was actually in a straight jacket, tied to a chair; she kept saying things to Numbuh One, interrupting his concentration.   
  
"One feck ofa nice place ya got 'ere, Nigel. What kin' a wood ya use to build 'is place? Oak? Well, why no' fuckin' answer me?" She called from across the room. "Ben righteously fecked ya up there, didn't he? You look like you got proper fucked there." Then she laughed; Numbuh One turned to face her.  
  
"Clover. You and your friends may think that you're better than us, but understand this: the rules of the game have changed. You won't beat us. You not better than us. We will find out who's behind this and crush them. They won't stand a chance. So you'd better quit hiding in your delusions and face the real world." He growled, "And while you're at it. Talk like a cilivized person. You sound barbaric."  
  
Those harsh words made Clover flinch. Not with fear. Her clan wasn't big on fear. His words had infuriated her, but with the straight jacket on, she couldn't do anything. Besides, even if she did beat the snot out of their leader, then what? She'd be facing nine others.  
  
"Fucker." was all she said.   
  
The best she could hope for was letting her out for something so she could make a clean getaway. Or someone coming in for a rescue.  
  
She was sure of the former.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A special thanks to everyone who says that my story is great and the compliments about my writing. This is a good HA HA in the face of my brothers, who thought that my fanfiction would be a flop. Once again, HA HA! Well, that said, play DDR and Pump it up to stay in shape, as it helped me. 


	10. Wild Nights

TENTH CHAPTAUH OF DAHCNESS IS HERE! Pretty cool, huh? Well, on with the show!

* * *

Break time. It was DDR time. Most of the Delightful Children did notoriously poor. Except Chelsea, that is. But even she was no match for Numbuh Three. 

"I'll be your midnight Blaze, brighter then the moon and stars, guide me through the cave of love, we'll dance 'till the morning, take my place to shine, When you see the light comes from me, baby, it's too late." 

The song ended, and the scores posted themselves. S to A. Kuki had won. Kuki liked to play in nightmare mode. She was the undefeated master at this game. This game brought back memories for Chelsea, all of the Delightful Children, really. Their eldest sister, Molly, used to take them to the arcade a lot when she was alive. She could step with the best of them, it was her favorite game. She had long brown hair and glasses, and the same blue eyes as her siblings. She didn't wear the uniform, The Delightful Children From Down The Lane wasn't a group yet. Playing DDR made them all a little sad. 

###############

Cree was peeved. Those Damned Delightful Children. Father is in the hospital and they didn't even show up to see how he was doing! She sighed, exasperated. She couldn't understand them. See looked at all the doctors who walked past, wondering if they knew anything. So far, Nothing. 

Then, at last, a doctor walked up to her. She looked at him hopefully.

"He's lost a lot of blood, four broken ribs, fractured arm, and broken leg. He hasn't wakened up yet. What the heck happened?" 

"Someone bombed the house. I don't know who..." Cree responded. Then she remembered that The Delightful Children From Down The Lane and the Kids Next Door had chased after someone. Probably the bomber. Sighing, she hoped that they had caught him. When I find the person who did this, I shove my fist into their skull and pull their brain out their nose! She though in a fit of anger. 

"Would you like to see him?" The doctor asked kindly. Agreeing, Cree entered the room where Father lay. He didn't look scary at all as he lie there sleeping. Monitors were hooked up, confirming that he was still alive. The orange glow he emitted was gone, and instead of being a shadowy figure, he looked like a normal man. His closed eyes were probably blue, like his children's, his hair was brown, and he was the same pale color. His left hand looked inhuman, as it was what hooked him up to the equipment. 

"Don't worry, Father, I will avenge you. I'll find out who did this and they WILL PAY!" She raged, fire burning in her eyes. 

#################################

The first thing Clover noticed was that it was dark. She was at the Tree House. Right in the middle of enemy territory. She was still in a straight jacket. She was still tied to a chair. She grunted, this was uncomfortable, damn KND. She sighed, concentrating of the yoga moves she had learned from Spyder. Houdini knew yoga. 

Everyone was asleep in the main foyer of the tree house. The operatives didn't want to leave the Delightful Children From Down the Lane by themselves. It shouldn't have been surprising, but it was funny anyway; the Delightful Children were all sleeping together, leaning against each other, like puppies in a heap. One Delightful Child was up at all times,and every hour, on the hour, one Delightful Child would wake up, and the one standing watch would fall asleep. This was all done as if they had been doing this for years, and Numbuh Five suspected they did it because they probably had to keep watch to warn the siblings of impending danger, like Father. Likewise, one operative was up at all times to keep watch on the Delightful Children or making sure that Clover wasn't attempting an escape. 

Numbuh Five was standing watch along with Ben. They watched over their respected parties with silence. Ben pulled out a harmonica, and played soft folk music. When he stopped, he looked at Nimbuh Five, who was quietly listening. 

"It's called, 'Shenandoah'. An American folk song, named after a river." He said. 

"It's nice. What happened this afternoon, when you went solo? I mean, why?" 

Ben sighed, "Because....your sister." 

"Cree? What about Cree? What did she have to do with anything?"

Ben looked like he was giving away a big secret, "The Delightful Children From Down the Lane have been, as we say, falling out of favor with Father. He loves his new wonder girl, Cree. That damned assassin. His favor with her is more then noticeable, and I need a way to keep my siblings and I in favor. If we become disfavored....." His voice trailed off, hands balled into fists, knuckles white. Numbuh Five wondered what 'disfavor' was, but by the way Ben said it, it seemed terrible. 

When Ben relaxed his fists, he noticed that his fingernails had dug into his palms until they bled. He licked away the blood. Numbuh Five said no more.

#############

Clover discarded the remains of her restraints. That was easy enough. Her shoulders ached, she almost had to dislocate them in order to escape. She quietly sucked in air, having to make herself thin enough to make the jacket too big involved taking little enough air. Shallow breathing was not her thing. Looking around, she opted not to take anything, this stuff probably had security measures built into them. the alarms might go off if she took them outside the perimeters. She removed her sneakers, sneaking away would be easier without shoes. These guys must be fucking retarded. She thought, fleeing out of the open window. 

That was way too easy! Poor KND must really be falling off now. She thought happily. It was way too late to go home. Her brothers would bother her constantly, teasing , pestering, typical shit. Her shoes were back on, and she had a new spring to her step. One more base she had broken out of. It was one of many, even The Delightful Children couldn't cage her! She had often broken into their house because they had all the best food. She wanted to get in touch with Mikey, or at least Gio to tell them she was all right. Well, she had one more stop tonight before either going for the restaurant or Spyder's for sleep. Turning left on the corner, she was heading for the hospital. The tall white building had been fixed quickly, recently someone had tried to burn it down. Just as she though, there was a teenager waiting. The shadowy figure walked past a trash can. Clover walked to the can, retrieved what she came her for, and turned to the shadow, pasted, then dropped something. The shadow picked it up. 

Mission success.

###############

Ben was standing on the top foliage of the KND HQ. Numbuh One was below, observing the security cameras. He hoped what that blond Delightful Girl said was true. If not, then they just lost a valuable information source. But that blond girl had said that Clover wouldn't say anything against her friends under even the most gruesome torture. Her idea was better then what Numbuh One could have thought possible from an individual Delightful Child. 

Ben wore binoculars. Pulling them from his face, he muttered, "That bitch..."

* * *

Nice! Well, that's it for today, I hope that was as entertaining for you to read as it was for me to write. Well, Remember, 

Pandas stalk the night after dark

(Glowing red eyes and nightmarish fangs)

Pandas eating a bum in the park

(midnight black claws and with dastardly things)

Pandas are coming, hide under your beds

Pandas are coming to rip you to shreds 

Pandas are coming pandas are coming PANDAS ARE

* * *

COMING!!!!!!! 


	11. Oh, What A beautiful Morning!

Chaptuh Eleventy is up! So is Chaptuh Onety-one! Enjoy!

* * *

Morning at the tree house. Numbuh One had already issued everyone that Clover's escape was part of the plan. Off all the Delightful Children, the only ones who knew how to cook were John and Ben. Everyone else was used to the household help cooking.  
  
John had used to have to cook all the time. He smiled under that helmet, being a Delightful Child...ever since he was adopted by 'Father' , he'd never had it so good, or so bad in his life. The abuse and missions from Father were horrible. But he was never alone, like he used to be. Without anyone looking, he felt the barely noticeable scar on his forehead. Unlike so many other scars he had on his body, this one was caused not by Father, or another gang member. He had done this to himself.   
  
He'd just gotten word from his mother that she was putting him up for adoption. He had been living in foster homes since he was five, and services had taken him away from his mother. She'd always say that she'd one day marry someone with money and then show Child Protection services so they would let her have him back. She found a man. They fell in love, and the man had hated John. He was born out of wedlock. No father, a bastard child. It was against the man's principles to have such a son. John's mother had to make a choice. John or her new fiancé.   
  
One week later, John got a letter. Simply put, John's mother was putting him up for adoption, she wasn't going to contact him anymore. She was going to get married in a nice, big church to a nice man, who didn't want anything to do with him.   
  
The letter hurt, and out of emotional pain, he did third to his forehead. He slammed his head repeatedly against a tree trunk.  
  
Ben cooked because all Kids Next Door operatives knew how to cook. The kitchen had stayed the same, much to Ben's surprise. He was fixing breakfast, as much as he hated helping the Kids Next Door, it wasn't like he had a choice. If he wanted the attacks to stop, he'd have to team up. Clover had made it painfully clear that they were in as much trouble as the Kids Next Door. As much as he hated cooking for his enemies, it brought back memories of being an operative again. Those were the days, days when he had real freedom. Molly and Mom were still alive. HE was ALIVE. Father had little say in what he did. Numbuh 274 was still more concerned about kid's rights and fighting oppressive adults then his own rank. Numbuh 271 was still an operative, and when he was around, he taught Ben everything he knew. He used to love Numbuh 272's jokes and Numbuh 273's cooking. Ben thought, Man, Numbuhs 271, 272, and 275 must all be over aged by now. That leaves only Chad left. And he's getting old, too. The thought of Numbuh 274's treachery infuriated Ben. If it wasn't for him, I'd still be an operative...not wearing a damn suit. The best years of his life were gone because of Chad.....he fucking HATED him. Hated. Hated. Hated. The KND was falling now. The golden days were over, the operatives getting soft. He wanted to tell Father exactly how to get rid of them once and for all, but why would HE listen to him? An adult taking orders from a kid? Unheard of.   
  
Pancakes, sausages, and hash browns were breakfast.   
  
#######################  
  
Angelo was sleeping off the night of partying he had before. Just because he was still a kid at heart didn't mean he couldn't have some grown up fun. His hair was long and red, like his brother's, but better kept. They looked alike. He awoke with the sound of a phone in his ear. Cursing in Italian, he answered the phone, "Ciao?" a pause, "Mikey! It's Clover!" The man yelled. When his brother didn't come to get the phone, Angelo looked down the hall. Mikey was parallel to him, concentrating on eating his Cheerios. His a mighty swing, the kid-at-heart threw the cordless phone directly at his brother.  
  
Mikey was tired, staying up all night made you that way. He was staring at the cereal bowl, when something smashed into the back of his head. The impact and surprise made Mikey's head plunge into the milk and cereal. The phone bounced off his head and land right on the table. Mikey yelled some English and Italian obscenities at his dozing brother before picking up the phone and listen to a laughing Clover.   
  
"Hey, Mikey! Top ov the mornin' to ya." Clover said cheerfully, "I've escaped. And nothin' happened."  
  
Mikey was wide awake now.   
  
"Ha Ha! Great job Clover! You did good, M'lady! If everything goes well, we'll have everyone destroyed in one fell swoop! Where are you?"  
  
"I'm at Spyder's."   
  
"Okay! Tell Spyder I'm coming over. Ya hear that Spy..er, um, Kazuo?! I'm coming over right now! I'll be ten minutes!"  
  
He called Giovanni, who was amazingly up and already dressed, "Get to Spyder's." was the only thing he said.  
  
Seven and a half minutes later, the leader of the gang rang the doorbell to Spyder's house. A Japanese woman in a morning robe answered.   
  
"Yes?" she asked in an Asian accent.   
  
"I'd like to talk to Kazuo, if you don't mind." The Italian said respectfully.   
  
"All right. Please, come in." The woman, Spyder's mother, answered, opening the door to let Mikey in. With all due respect of Spyder's mother's culture, Mikey removed his shoes stepping in, and put on the red house shoes Spyder's mom had given him years ago. He noticed that the green ones Clover and the black ones Giovanni wore were gone. He walked past Renaissance style paintings, sculptures, and Japaneses scrolls and artwork. Mikey was used to this cultural convergence.   
  
Spyder's furniture was traditional Japanese style. However, you could see Italian pop star posters adorning his walls and 80's music played from Spyder's impressive entertainment center. High tech equipment was everywhere. Technical print outs for many of Spyder's inventions were everywhere, written in Japan's three alphabets and Italian. Amazingly enough, Giovanni, who lived a lot farther then Mikey, was here- according to Giovanni- exactly two minutes and forty five seconds earlier then him. Giovanni was kind of freaky. Mikey removed his house shoes to step on the mats on the floor. He sat next to Clover.   
  
"Okay. Giovanni, remove any bugs the KND might have put on her."   
  
Giovanni swept a magnet over the green haired lass. A very small device attached itself to the magnet. Looking at it, it looked like Delightful technology. Giovanni removed it.   
  
Spyder said, "Well, with the magnet, it's useless now." Giovanni shrugged, and dropped the little black device in a glass of water. The trio watched it short out. Giovanni finally spoke up.  
  
"Boss, might I suggest we leave immediately, out the door facing away from the enemy base and head for our own base?"   
  
"Hell yeah." Mikey said.  
  
##################  
  
Numbuh One was monitors the camera recordings of last night. If everything went well, Clover would lead them right to their base. There was a kink in their plans, however, as her teammates learned about the defective Delightful tracking device and promptly destroyed it. Even if it was waterproof, it would be ruined by the magnet. Their 2x4 technology would have been a better choice, but John, as the helmeted boy was called, was the one who tagged her when he bound her hands and feet. While she was tagged, however, Chelsea had proved to be right, she had led them to Spyder's house, and he had noticed the Italian Delightful Child going there, as well as a new stranger. The boy looked familiar, he was the obvious leader, as the recording device planted on Clover had revealed him as the 'boss'. Mikey, was his name, and the others took orders from him.  
  
So the Delightful Children were telling the truth...Mikey was behind this. But where else had he heard of that name? From what else he gathered, he was organizing a group assault on the Kids Next Door, with the help of all of the villains. So far, the only ones not participating were Cree, Father, and his Delightful Children from Down the Lane. Cree was the first to be offered, but declined because she was too independent. Besides, she hated kids, and working with three was too much. When asked for their cooperation,The Delightful Children refused because of its undelightful nature, if Father had seen them act in such a manor as he was suggesting! Father hadn't even heard of the offer, his children were supposed to tell him. And now he was in the hospital. Mikey was probably thinking that The Delightful Children would attack him, so he made sure to cripple their forces as much as possible. So far, he'd surceased.   
  
Numbuh Five walked in on her leader, "Numbuh Five's got you some munchies. Ben made some sausage and pancakes and hash browns." she said, placing the plate of food right next to Numbuh One on the desk.   
  
"Thanks, Numbuh Five." He said," Sorry, for last night. Teaming up the the Delightful Children was the best option." Numbuh Five smiled.  
  
#################  
  
Former Tony's Italian Restaurant. This was the main base of one of the more feared children organizations. Running strong for twenty years, they always seemed to be able to escape every kids organization, most without even hearing about them. The Cowboy Kids Club, The Kids Next Door, The Delightful Children From Down the Lane. None had even come close to crushing them all. They can catch a few of us, but they can't get us all. Mikey thought. The reigns of leader had been passed down to him from the former leader; his brother, Angelo Ragazzi. The fact that Angelo was also Numbuh Twenty at the same time as leader, showed the weakness of the Kids Next Door. It was funny how easily the Kid Mafia moved among them. Sitting down on the soft leather chair he sighed. He hoped that the Kids Next Door or at least the Delightful Children would follow. Because when they did, they could find that it wasn't so easy to take down the most powerful organization children had ever seen. Spyder was gone, he had to help Stickybeard make the modifications to the "Sweet Revenge". Cool name for a ship. Mikey thought. Clover was off, informing his new minions. He had sorely wished The Delightful Children, Father, and Cree were in with him. Things would have gone much easier that way. But, the had served a purpose anyway. Just like Lime Ricky, they would be marked as sacrifice to the glorification to the mafia. He smiled at the thought of the money and candy would be flooding into his hands out of fear. Kids would pay anything for protection.   
  
All he had to do now was iron out a few details, and his reign of terror would begin.

* * *

That was short! Well, I haven't Ben updating, as I have other papers due. The end of the year's coming up for all the little Texan kids. We get out in May, then come back in August. I was thinkin...If I moved to another state during summer vacation, where they get out in June and come back in September...then I'd get an extra month of summer! Cool....... 


	12. Divide and conqure

Okay, finally, the Twelfth Chapter. Sorry about not updating, you see, I had a ton of papers I needed to do. And I based Mikey after an obscure minor anime character, In the next few chapters, I want you to tell me who he is. A little game for you. HINT: Gundam. The prize is an alternate ending for chapter One and an alternate chapter Two. The contest ends when the story does. though in the last chapter, it'll seem blatantly obvious. Now, my little cabbages, enjoy.

* * *

Phillip Andrews Jr. AKA, The Spawn of the Tolinater, sat with his dad, talking to the other villains. Somethings, he wondered if they were actually normal people with normal jobs under theses costumes. He still thought Knightbrace was crazy. Everyone here was crazy. He was the only one here not in costume, but it was he who got the dirty looks. He was, as they say, Gothic. He didn't look like his father at all. The Tolinaiter had orange hair and blue eyes, he didn't. He had probably looked like his mother, but she had sold him to 'Father'. He was an escapee. His powers would later become useful to the Kids Next Door.   
  
The villains spoke about their plans, some staring at the five empty chairs where the youngest members were supposed to be; The Delightful Children From Down the Lane were missing, having refused to participate. Phil liked those guys, too bad.   
  
Everyone spoke of that little Italian squirt's brand new plan. Phil didn't like that kid. He seemed a little strange.   
  
Just then, Spyder and Clover bust through the door.   
  
"Make way for the Ragazzi Family!" Spyder yelled, his two sheathed swords out in front of him. He and Clover had kicked the door open. Giovanni followed, arms folded. "New orders from the boss...."   
  
############  
  
The tree house was repaired, now, and the Delightful Children and Numbuh One were busy trying of think of a strike against their attackers. Clover had led them to a lackey's house, but that was all. Numbuh One was disappointed in his new teammate's failing plan. However, Ben had sarcastically said that Mikey would come to them. So far, today seemed suspicious, there had been no attacks of any kind, from anybody. The tree house was on high alert.   
  
"Perhaps, they knew of our alliance, and decided that it would be unwise to attack a united enemy." The Delightful Children droned.   
  
"No, they're up to something. If the enemy is bold enough to attack your manor, then they are obviously not the least bit intimidated by our presence, like, they are thinking up a new plan to wipe us all off the Earth with one fell swoop!" Numb uh One said.  
  
"Sometimes, Nig- Numbuh One, you sound like a paranoid version of us....You'd make a good Delightful Child From Down the Lane."  
  
Numbuh One turned to them, his sunglasses on the very edge of his nose, his eyes ablaze, "That will never happen."   
  
##############  
  
Mikey smiled. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Unlike the Kids Next Door, he had school to attend. He stood atop a play ground crow's nest, Binoculars on his neck. Phase One was a total success, Phase Two was even better. Now Phase Three was about to happen. But first....He looked around, eying everyone participating. "Now everyone!" He said in a mock friendly voice, "Just do it like I told ya, and everything will be okay. The Delightful Pricks and the Punks Next Door have no idea what's going on."   
  
"Wait, The Delightful Children know our plan! You told them, remember?" Big Brother called.   
  
"I know, that's why I had to remodel that plan. We're doing something different this time." Mikey called down, agitated, then he looked around, confused,"Hey, where's the Tolinater and his kid?"   
  
"Signore, He said he had some business to take care of." The count of spankings said. Mikey wondered why he didn't burst into flames the moment he touched sunlight, and why he didn't drink blood. Oh well.  
  
"Dammit, oh fuck, well, we don't need him right now anyway."   
  
##############  
  
An alert! This time, however, it came from the play ground, and another came from the kids museum. This wasn't good. Big Brother was trashing School Equipment while Spankalot was administering punishment to museum goers. Two different emergencies,   
  
Two Different locations. Big problem. Numbuh One's brilliant mind was spinning, trying to figure out what to do. He didn't trust those Delightful Children, but they were needed for this problem. He planned to break up the teams. Two Delightful children to Three Operatives and Three Delightful Children to two operatives. Two teams for two assignments. He and Ben were both leaduhs, so Ben would get the team with the most Delightful Children and Numbuh One would take the team with the most operatives.   
  
"All right, team. we've got two danger spots requiring our immediate attention. That's why I'm spitting us into two teams of five. Ben, you'll take charge of group two, and I'll take group one. Ben, you'll take Chelsea, John, Numbuh Five, and Numbuh Four. I'll take Numbuh Two, Numbuh Three, Andy, and Anne. Ben, your team will take on Big Brother, your team is much better suited for combat. I'll take on that crazy vampire. We'll take the SKYCLAW, and Group Two will take the Mosquito. Delightful Children, because you are staying here, we expect you to help. Besides fixing the floor. Now, Kids...er...um...Team, move out!"   
  
Numbuh Four mumbled nasty things under his breath at the thought of a Delightful Brat leading him. He was angry with Numbuh One and Numbuh One for making him team up with them. To make matters worse, Numbuh Five was playing cards with one of them, John, or whatever the brat was named. The girlie brat was watching outside the window.   
  
############  
  
Just as Mikey predicted, one team went to one location, where he had plenty of henchmen, and the other came right to him and Big Brother. He ducked inside the crow's nest, black hood over his head, and watched the action. It was Ben leading the charge. He should have saw that one coming, though he was sure that they wouldn't strike until they knew that he was behind this. Oh, well, not that this was important, these guys were simply serving as a distraction.  
  
All operatives charged out of that KND thing. The Delightful Children were working with this style of fighting and used the operatives as cover. Big Brother promptly threw a awing set n their direction. Everyone ducked, except Ben, who grabbed one leg and promptly through it back. Big Brother bent the swing set into a ball and charged. He was stopped by Ben. It was almost comical to see a skinny, refined, boy catch the enormous fist of Big Brother. Ben's hand was tiny compared to this large behemoth. Chelsea circled around and performed a flying round house kick to Big Brother's head. She landed on his large shoulder. Big brother released one of Ben's hands to try and smash Chelsea, but only succeeded in hurting his own shoulder. Chelsea landed gracefully at her brother's side. Numbuh Four and Five fired their coke bottle lasers at his side. He howled in pain as he grabbed Chelsea and Numbuh Four. He shook them violently and laughed. Ben started to focus his attacks to his enemy's head. John rammed Big Brother's stomach with his helmet, causing Big Brother to drop his captives.  
  
This wasn't going well for Mikey, if they defeated Big Brother too early, then ever  
  
thing would be ruined. He pulled out a control switch and pressed a few buttons.   
  
#############  
  
Numbuh One's operative charged out of the Skyclaw. Andy and Anne followed only slightly behind them. Count Spankalot turned to them.   
  
"Greetings, Children. I'm afraid you have all been caught in a trap."   
  
"What was that?!" Numbuh One challenged.   
  
"He's right." said a soft Italian voice. They all looked up to see the Italian in a crimson suit and purple tie.   
  
"I'm guessing you're Giovanni?!" Numbuh One barked. The Italian smiled and nodded slowly.   
  
"You are correct. I am Giovanni Panzanelli, second in command only to the boss himself. His other associates have been disappointing. However, you will all die here, would you all like to run?" his voice was polite, almost to the point of sarcasm.

* * *

Well, I'll just end it there. Well, looks like Mikey's got a good grip on things...well, remember, Strangers always know the way to your house. 


	13. The Graphic Violence Chaptuh

In this chaptuh, I will fill you vocabulary with Italian swear words! Don't worry, I will update the chapters with non English words so they have translations at the end of the chapter. Sorry about that. Also, after seeing OPERATION UNDERCOVER, I've decided to disregard that episode for this story, as I had already made Helmet dude someone else. It was a good episode, it just ruined what I thought of Lenny/John was. At any rate, I will continue to use John as the Helmet dude for one more fanfic, as I have already made an outline. Sorry if this pisses anyone off. If people flame me for this, I will disregard you, because in not retaliating to your insults, that would make me a better person, wouldn't it? Well, thanks to all those who actually read above this line, for listening to my tangent, and without further ado, chaptuh Onesy Three.

* * *

"I'll give you one chance to run, though it doesn't matter, I'll hunt you down like dogs." Giovanni sneered. He was standing atop a sculpture of an male angel with it's arms extended, like it was basking in the sunlight of the skylight above it. Giovanni was perched on the bare muscular white marble shoulders. His arms were folded, he seemed unarmed.   
  
"You've got a lot of nerve talking to us like that! All right team, Battle stations!" Numbuh One yelled. The team charged for the angel, but were knocked flying. The five were dazed, but the Delightful Children recovered quickly, and got into animal forms of kung fu. Andy was in a cat stance while Anne was in a mantis stance. Spankalot had thrown them using a psychic force.   
  
"Time for you brats to pay your dues!" the count said, charging for them. The team all separated to dodge the attack. With Numbuh One and Numbuh Two veering to the left and Numbuh Three and and Anne going to the right, Andy jumped into the air and kangaroo kicked the count in the face. Spankalot used his psychic force to grab Andy and chucked him into a mobile. He was tangled in the mess, trying to get free.   
  
"Leave my brother alone, you big bully!" Anne yelled as he tackled the vampire in the side, with Numbuh Two sandwiching him on the other. The wind flew out of Count Spankalot so quickly that he swore that he literally saw stars. He collapsed.   
  
"Yeah, Go fat people." Numbuh Two said, as the two gave each other high fives.   
  
Numbuh One savored the look on Giovanni's face, that of disgust, anger, and disappointment, "Cane Dio.." Giovanni said.  
  
"Ready to surrender?" Numbuh One said arrogantly. Giovanni's narrowed eyes were glittering with hatred, his lips curled, showing his prominent canine teeth, giving him the appearance of a young vampire.  
  
"Baciami il culo." he spat.  
  
####################  
  
Like his second in command, Mikey was perhaps thinking of plenty of Italian cuss words at the moment. Ben's team proved to be too much for the cumbersome Big Brother, he simply couldn't keep up. The behemoth fell to the ground.  
  
"Gran' disgraziato" he muttered, waiting for the loading sequence of one of his latest creations. With one last button, he turned off a switch, locking the controls, and then placed it on the highest point of the whole playground, the flag atop the crows nest where he stood. Snickering to himself, he climbed down and left without any notice.   
  
Ben gloated," Ha! Too easy." His tie and collar were undone, as was his shirt, and his jacket was open.   
  
"You're right, this was too easy..." Numbuh Five said, arms folded. John knew that when Numbuh Five said something was too easy, she was usually right.   
  
Today was no exception, as the ground under their feet trembled and shook. Then a black blur shot out of the ground and flew into air in a streak of color and sound. The team looked into the sky, only to be blinding with the sun in their eyes. Luckily, they all had the sense to get out of the thing's shadow. The team had it circled now, it was jet black, made of metal, and its black eyes turned red. It resembled a Japanese dragon, with swept back horns, three toes per foot, live wire cables for hair and goatee. It was covered in spiky armor, about fifteen feet long, and it's fan tail ended in a blazing fire. It reared up on its back legs and let out a mechanical roar.   
  
"Wait, let me say it, this was just too easy!" John said, eyes wide with fear, backing away along with everyone else.   
  
###########  
  
The other team had Giovanni surrounded, all were focusing their various 2X4 technology at him. Numbuh Two had grabbed them after knocking Count Spankalot to the floor. Giovanni gave no indication of fear, anger, disappointment, or anything as the red laser targets danced on his face and chest as the various agents hands shook with inexperience, or adrenaline. Giovanni's head was level, so he had to look down on his potential assassins or captors.   
  
"You are all truly moronic." he said simply as he unfolded his arms, revealing that he was holding onto a small, almost flat control panel resembling a pocket metronome. He pressed a few buttons on the control panel of some sort. His blanks expression's only flaw was a slight frown. Suddenly the other sculptures began to move. They grinned and cracked as they moved for the first time. Giovanni smiled wickedly, his eyes shining with the thought of severely beating his enemies. He jumped off his angel, and rebounded against the walls before landing on the balcony above them as the angel he stood on also came to life. He peered over the edge, smiling at the imminent destruction of his enemies.  
  
"All right team, nothing we can't handle..." Numbuh One said, lowering his weapon on the angel approaching him.   
  
###################  
  
Clover O'Donnal stood waiting on a corner, right beside the power grid for the whole neighborhood. It was a large metal box about the same size as she. She leaned up against it, waiting for orders. A call came from her cell phone, playing Ode to Joy. It was Mikey.   
  
"Go, my dear." He said. She pried open the box with a crowbar, being careful to only touch the outside metal covering, not the metal inside. Looking at all the wires, she found the street address of the KND Tree House. She pulled out the wire, snapped the door shut, and left for Sticky Beard's ship.  
  
############  
  
It was Spyder's turn now, the power to the tree house was down, so sneaking in was even easier then before. The fact that Numbuh Two's room was an open hanger made this even easier. Spyder was wearing his gray backpack, his swords being secure to his back. The DeathStrike had to be somewhere around here, so where was it? Spyder thought. He found crumpled in a corner, looking rather pathetic. There were data readouts and wires attached to the less then intimidating scorpion. No repairs or attempts at repairs had been done, though. Looking inside, the cockpit looked relatively unchanged, beside battle damages he had endured about a week ago. He jumped into the cockpit, and located a panel, where tubes were supposed to go, and removed the empty vials. Sighing, he took out a syringe full of a metallic translucent purple liquid, and jammed it into the controls. The liquid was sucked into the machine monster, and a monitor showed cryptic readings.   
  
"I hate this part." Spyder said, as a needled syringe filled with the purple chemical attached to a wire embedded itself in his back. He bit the inside of his cheek to make sure he made no sound, his eyes snapped shut in pain. The pain lasted only momentarily, as the drug was already taking effect. Wires encased the assassin, and he was in control of the DeathStrike. None of the weapons were working, but it could at least walk. The communications were still online, so he called Clover.   
  
####################  
  
Clover got yet another call on her cellphone. This time it was Spyder, sounding rather demonic.   
  
"Clover....I got the Deathstrike. How is everything going?" he said, his voice sending shivers up the Irish lass's spine.   
  
"I killed the feckn' pow'a. I'm guessing ya got tha DeathStrike. Giovanni an' Mikey must be still fecken with those fuckers." Clover said, her dog, Zepplin following her. Zepplin was a golden retriever that was very well trained. It followed her wherever she went.  
  
"Wait, Clover, The Deathstrike can barely move, I need transportation. Please." he rasped on the other line.  
  
"The feck ya wan' me ta do?! I'll bring my bike, hows zat?" She said sarcastically.   
  
"Very funny, look, just get Destructo Dad to bring a car around or something..."   
  
########################  
  
Cree was feeling better. The power was out on the tree house. What luck! He rode her modified space bike thing to the tree house, only to find that a downed demonic scorpion already had that underway. It might had looked intimidating, but it likely couldn't have hurt a kitten. Cree had to object.  
  
"What are you doin'?! That piece of junk can't hurt nothin'!" she yelled.  
  
Hey, it's Cree. Spyder thought, but the mech he was piloting had a much more murderous idea in mind. Spyder disconnected himself from the ruined Deathstrike and landed before Cree, his twin katanas brandished. Although he was disconnected from the Deathstrike, it still possessed him, using him as its vessel for destruction.   
  
Cree didn't like this kid, he was so different from when she first met him with that redhead. Now he looked like a god damned maniac. Spyder tried to slash her head off, but luckily, her reaction time was just as good as his, and she blocked with her double headed spear. The duel of these two assassins would have shamed the Jedi and sith. With evey slash and stab one took, it was blocked and countered by the opponent. Cree held both swords at bay with her spear, and the battle paused just long enough the see Spyder's eyes as his sunglasses slid down his nose. His eyes were Asian, dark brown, and she swore she saw something dark and metallic dance in his eyes. She threw him off and slashed for the stomach, but Spyder jumped back last second and she only managed a light flesh wound and tearing his shirt. Dark red blood from the veins oozed from his stomach. With the adrenaline and purple poison coursing through his veins, he parried her spear with one sword and came around with a slash with the other. Cree's armor saved her then, as he only managed to rip a plate of shoulder armor off and skin her shoulder, bringing stinging pain to Father's assassin. She was so well trained that she didn't cringe. She screamed and surprised Spyder enough to slam the side of her spear into his arm, crushing, or at least stunning it.

* * *

All right, here's the glossery, potty mouths,

Cane Dio = God damn, literally, God Dog

Baciami il culo = kiss my ass

Gran' disgraziato = Big disgrace

Now you can all insult your freinds, family, and anyone else you know in Italian, you dorks. So, until the next chaptuh, make sure the pandas don't get you. I'd have a hard time writing if I had no one to write for. 


	14. Oops, my bad

_Okay, Cyber Commander pointed out a fatal flaw in my yarn, Clover can't knock out power to the Tree House because its powered by hamster powered generators. Well, that got me into a creative spin, so thanks. And now, on with the show!

* * *

_

Well, Clover was feeling pretty good about herself, as she'd just knocked out the power grid on the tree house. Mikey would be pleased. Now how to get Spyder's Deathstrike out of the tree house; that thing got trashed by the Delightful Children's defenses. Well, she'd ask Mikey. And lo and behold, there he was. She ran to him.  
  
"Well, feck me, Mikey, I knocked out the tree house power, they won fin' out about the power grid for sometime." Clover said happily. Mikey stared at her as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Then he spoke slowly and carefully, his voice just above a whisper.   
  
"Clover, the Kids Next Door Tree House is powered by its own generator, run my hamsters, always has. Are you meaning to tell me, that you just sent Spyder in there with the security systems still on?!"   
  
Now Clover was realizing her fault, "But, ya told me to kill the power.."   
  
"I meant for you to sneak in there and let all the hamsters out! All you did was kill power to the house!"   
  
There was a traditional Kids Next Door moment of silence. Then both mafia gangsters ran like children, screaming, to the tree house, hoping the security systems hadn't already made mincemeat out of their assassin.

> ##################

Ben's team was having a hell of a time trying to fight the scary looking dragon that popped out of nowhere, or more pacifically, the ground. It reared up on its hind legs and spat intense fire at the children. Without much grace, they all rolled out of the way. John tried to punch a dent in what he hoped would be weak, cheap metal.

No such luck, the armor was reinforced steel. John clutched his now red and bruising hand and screamed one of those silent screams where you open your mouth and you look like you're hollering, but no sound comes out. Tears formed at the edges of his eyes, but did not spill over. The dragon looked at what had punched it, and simply swiped at it. The swipe put an impressive slash in John helmet; you could start to see a bit of hair poking out, all the bones in his neck popped. Chelsea went immediately for the head, only to have her kick do nothing. She did however connect her foot with one of the cables the dragon had for hair. The shock of electricity hit her hard. Hard enough to send her flying into a jungle gym, shuttering once, then stopping. She groaned in pain.   
  
Numbuh Four laughed at the two Delightful Children's mistakes, pointing to Chelsea until he was send flying next to her with the dragon's flaming tail. Because of his training, he recovered quickly. He shook Chelsea violently until she got back up. She smiled at him, and he just scowled.   
  
"Wait, let's try something.." she said, grabbed his hand, lacing fingers, then they intertwined elbows. He understood immediately. Jumping together, they double teamed against the dragon. Steel was steel, and they couldn't even put a dent in it. This was bad.   
  
Numbuh Five was thinking as hard as she could to beat that thing. Okay, so combative tactics didn't work. Seeing her teammates only reaffirmed her conviction.   
  
"Hey, Ben!" She called. Ben turned to her, just as he was about to take that dragon on himself.   
  
"What?!"   
  
"Anything you Delightful Dorks got that still works that can take this thing?!"   
  
"Yeah, me!" he said as the dragon came down to crush him in its jaws. He grabbed that thing mouth and seemed to defy all logic as he held its mouth open. John and Chelsea ran to help their brother, only to get shocked by the live wires about the dragon's face. The dragon tried to roast the thing holding its mouth open, but Ben had enough common sense to let go. He rolled out of the way. Ben ran to Numbuh Five.   
  
"What (pant) about (pant) Hippie Hop?" He asked.  
  
"Hippie Hop only listens to Numbuh Three." She said, "Besides, anything else we sent for might take too long to get here."  
  
It wasn't until she let her eyes wander did she see the control sitting on the crows nest. She ran for the main structure of the playground only to be knocked flying by Big Brother, who had since recovered. He laugh was blunted with stupor as he bellowed triumphantly, only to be knocked out cold by 'Big' Ben. He turned to Numbuh Five, who had likewise recovered.   
  
"Sorry, I had to stop that jackass laugh."   
  
####################  
  
Giovanni looked like he was having a good time. Numbuh One wasn't. Andy's valiant attempts to get free were only making his situation worse, and everyone was too busy preventing their own demise that they couldn't worry about him. Andy mumbled incoherent cuss words, forgetting he was a Delightful Child From Down the Lane, as he struggled to free himself. The mobile was like a spider, it came to life and was trying to squeeze poor Andy to death. Shiny black coils wound themselves around his neck.   
  
"Oh, crap." he said as the coils cut off circulation to the brain. He grabbed a piece of colored glass from the mobile and tried to cut the coils with it. Anne used the soda bottle laser gun to shoot at the black wires strangling her brother.   
  
"Raise your arms!" she yelled.   
  
Andy did and no sooner then that he slipped out of his dress jacket and landed safely on the ground below him.   
  
"Thanks!" he said, but was interrupted by the spider-like mobile as it detached itself from the ceiling and tried to capture Andy again.   
  
"Woah!" he said as the spider mobile walked on its glass shard and black metal cord legs. The center becoming a great red glass cat eye. Andy looked at the colored piece of glass he ripped off the spider; he threw it into the thing's eye. It arched back, clutching the shard in it's glass claws. Then it threw more dark colored glass shards at the blond boy. He just managed to move out of the way, several shards ripping his dress shirt.   
  
Numbuh Two was having a tough time trying to fend off a statue of a Minotaur. It swung its ax over the mechanic, just as he ducked under it. It gave a realistic bull snort and turned around to face Numbuh Two. The pilot ran away, screaming. He grabbed his bubblegum shooter and fired on the Minotaur's head. The bull shook it's head free of the dust the laser had dusted on it. Then its eyes glowed red with fury as it tried once again to destroy the pilot.   
  
The angel that Giovanni had stood on took on Numbuh One. It kicked and punched at the leader, and he might have had a better time with fighting it had Ben's punishment not left him so sore. His body was still a mess of bruises and everything ached. Even so, he was still able to just keep up with the angel's attacks. The angel's fist came down, leaving his head open for attack. Numbuh One fired his SPANKER as many times as the angel let him before rising and kicked the bald operative in the stomach. The statue had hit dead on a bruise, and Numbuh One found himself temporarily paralyzed. The Angel raised its hands to crush Numbuh One, but luckily Andy blocked the blow with a metal rod attached to a tapestry. Numbuh One was grateful, until Andy kicked him out of his way to do battle with the angelic statue while Anne took over fighting the spider mobile.   
  
"Where's Numbuh Three?" he asked.   
  
Numbuh Three was dancing out of the way of the statue heads shooting lasers out of their eyes. She was doing remarkably better then her comrades, as when she jumped over a head firing its lasers, it would unintentionally hit and destroy one of the other heads. She laughed with glee, having way too good of a time, and pretty soon, all of the heads had been destroyed. Giovanni observed this with a confused interest.   
  
_Did she even know the danger she was in?_ He asked himself.   
  
Andy had wondered that about her ever since he'd seen her in action about three years ago. Andy was doing an admiral job against the angel, until the Minotaur that Numbuh Two was supposed to be fighting came for Andy as well. Andy stared to sweat with the unfair odds against him. Two on one was not fair, something the Delightful Children always did was make sure things were at least fair in a battle and expected the same from all of their opponents. He was losing ground as the two statues advanced on him.   
  
"YeeHaaaww!" Numbuh Two said behind the Minotaur as he looped off its head with a ceremonial battle ax he'd found. The bull monster statue resumed it's original position as it stopped moving.   
  
"Bulls eye." Numbuh Two said triumphantly.  
  
Andy sighed and shook his head, "Only a thousand more to go, too." as he blocked a punch from the angel.   
  
##############  
  
The duel of assassins had led outside, with neither giving in. It wasn't until a laser hidden in the tree trunk shot between the two of them did they snap out of their lust for battle.   
  
"Hold on! I was told that the power was off! What's going on?"   
  
Spyder couldn't respond, he was too busy running back into the tree house for cover; Cree followed. By now, the whole tree house was on full alert. The only safe place was inside. The assassins became birds with a thousand cats waiting on the outside.   
  
"We're stuck." Spyder finally growled. "Who told you the power was off?"   
  
Cree put on a dignified look and folded her arms defensively at being asked that question by a kid.   
  
"For your information, my boss told me!" she said curtly. She had no intention to be interrogated by a kid, but she was too vexed to just ignore him or fire a scathing enough retort. Suddenly, the annoying double sword brat doubled over. Cree did n;thing to help.  
  
"What's the matter with you?" she asked.   
  
"N-Nothing," he gasped as he recovered, then brandished his swords again, "now, let's finish this!"   
  
No sooner he said that then his vision doubled and he collapsed. Cree just stared at the crumpled assassin. The kid was in trouble, and the strangest thing was......she didn't care. She just stared at the fallen assassin, trying to figure out how she approach the brats next door when they returned. The next thing on her mind was, where are Father's children. He had awakened last night, and she had to tell him that they hadn't visited since he got there and that she hadn't seen them since the morning before the bombing.   
  
Walking over to the KND kitchen for a soda, she heard frantic screaming coming from outside. Looking out the window, she saw the redhead mob boss brat and his little green haired girlfriend. Soda flew out of her nose when the green haired girl, - What was her name? Clover? - stepped onto the grass, only to be pulled back by the mob boss just as a laser shot at her, just singing her shoe.   
  
"Aw, Fuck! Now wha' wegonnado?" Clover asked. Mikey shook his head.  
  
"Uh, Spyder?! You okay in there?!" Mikey yelled to the tree house.   
  
"How'd 'e get in there without gettin' shot et?" Clover asked.   
  
"Only the best become my henchmen." Mikey said. "But if Spyder was on that drug the second he came here, and it took us about twenty minutes to get here, then it must have worn off by now."   
  
"Fuck." The two said in unison.


	15. Technical Difficultes

Still no guesses for Mikey? Well, look at his occupation and description for a clue. HINT:Gundam

* * *

Ben's team was desperately trying to stall fire while Numbuh Five got the control to the dragon attacking them, but they were finding this difficult, as that metal menace seemed to know what was going on. It spewed fire at the ebony operative, she could just keep from being barbecued by the monster.   
  
"Leave her alone!" Ben raged as he leaped on the dragon's head. The result was spectacular. The live cables connected with Ben and he dropped like a stone. But soon he was on the dragon's head again, now that he had something to prove. The voltage once again hit him like a sledge and he stiffened like a pencil. Once again he was sent flying. Anyone else might have given up. Not Ben. He grabbed hold of the dragon's hair and held it there again to keep it from getting to Abby. His hair stood on end and he bellowed like mad. Everyone stared. Ben looked at his teammates.  
  
"What....are.....you....WAITING FOR!?" he yelled. Numbuh Five scrambled to get to the top of the crow's nest.   
  
"That voltage will surely cause him to go into cardiac arrest!" Chelsea screamed, hands on her face.  
  
"Man! Ben's gonna be toast!" John yelled.   
  
Once again, the voltage proved to be too much, and he was slammed back. Now he was really not going to give up, and, snarling deeper then ever, he pulled the dragon back from advancing again. The electricity really hammered him this time, he slammed back and forth with the power circulating through him, his hair becoming a stiff, brown bottle brush. Though his teammates thought the power would kill him, this time he was not going to let go. He pulled as hard he could, his hands in a death grip pit bull vice grip, slashing back and forth.   
  
Except for Numbuh Five, his Friends ran to him, worried that the voltage would kill him. His eyes rolled back in his skull, with only the whites showing, he frothed at the mouth, but he still held fast. They got there as Numbuh Five grabbed the control and fell off the crows nest.   
  
"Got it!" She said as she unlocked the controls and turned the thing off. The dragon's eyes went as black as the rest of it, the fiery tail had sputtered out. Ben stood there, his hands not off the now safe wires. His chest was heaving, hair still on end. He finally let go of the dragon, looking like a bottle brush, but with a great deal of dignity.   
  
Then his demonic demeanor faded and he smiled.   
  
"I thought I was going to die. I guess we showed it. Come, we shall take it back to headquarters. Then Numbuh Two can examine it." He looked at his now burned hands.   
  
#################  
  
Destroying artwork was proving to be difficult. The statue heads were gone, but they were replaced by a seemingly endless supply of sculptures. Andy was loosing to the angel, Numbuh One valiantly fought off a naked Greek sculpture with a disk for a weapon, and Numbuh Two battled with another Greek sculpture. Anne had finally destroyed the mobile, only to have it replaced with another, this time made of colorful metal plates.  
  
Numbuh Three was the only one not fighting, as she was dancing on the rails. She ran into Giovanni, and insisted that they dance. Giovanni was bewildered, but he refused to let that show. She grabbed his arms and waved them around, he kept sputtering declines, but the Japanese girl refused his decline.   
  
"Dance with me!"   
  
"No."   
  
"Plllease! It's fun!"   
  
"Go away."  
  
She started to sing the rainbow monkey song, and pulled her unwilling partner around. He wrenched his hands away, but she didn't notice, she did a twirl in midair and the motion knocked the refined Italian over the guard rail. He hit his head on the rail and he fell to the story below. The angel that attacked Andy caught him, but the control that Giovanni used fell into a fountain. The control shorted out. Soon the statues reverted to their original positions and the mobile fell limp. Giovanni lay there in the angel's arms. He was unconscious, his scarred face away from the enemy. Without the scar or the beady eyes, he lay there, seemingly innocent, looking like a sacrifice layed out on the arms of the angel.   
  
"Good work, team." Numbuh One said. "Let's apprehend Giovanni and get out of here.   
  
"I don't think so!" Count Spankalot said. He had finally came to. He disappeared in a puff of black smoke and reappeared on the angel. He picked up the unconscious gangster, "You won this time, but next time you won't be so lucky!" He laughed, and caring the gangster in his arms, disappeared.   
  
##################  
  
Sneaking into the tree house was no picnic for the Kid Mafia gangsters. They rushed into the house, running as fast as the could to not get shot, and rushed again to get to the tree house. Mikey grudgingly realized how little refined this was. His mood darkened when he saw Cree, in samurai attire, drinking soda over their assassin. Clover immediately assumed the worst scenario.   
  
"What did you do to Spyder!?" she yelled.   
  
This outburst offended Cree. She stiffened and angrily shot, "Nothin' ! We were just fighting and he just collapsed. How did you get in here without getting shot at?"  
  
"We're special." Mikey said, his words dripping with sarcasm. He loved pissing teens and adults off. They were there for entertainment anyway, while the weak kids were for exploiting. That was why Mikey was a criminal, he couldn't afford to be weak, because then you'd be crushed in no time. Cree snorted and turned her cheek.   
  
She didn't notice that Clover had flown off on a tangent and attacked the her. She didn't have time to react before the angry Irish lass tackled her. Cree threw the lass over her head and she landed on the couch. Clover shook it off, shook her head like a dog, uttered a low growl, and charged again. She stopped before hitting Cree, as the lass got into a kick boxing stance. Mikey got a soda from the Kids Next Door kitchen and sipped quietly as the cat fight resumed.   
  
#################  
  
Stickybeard was a tad annoyed that the Irish minx hadn't shown up yet. She was supposed to approve the battle plans he had made. Right now, he was docked when he could be taking candy. That Italian brat had promised troves of candy for the pirate and the destruction of the Kids Next Door for the cooperation, but now the captain of candy was loosing patience. Besides, Knightbrace was here, and the two were ready to rip each other's throats out.   
  
He grumbled as he unwrapped a lolly and tried to shut out Knightbrace's sermons. Stickybeard considered tyeing the crazed candy shop owner to the mast and gag him to keep him quiet. Keeping the peace were Mr. Wink and Mr. Fibb, who Stickybeard suspected as being...nah, won't say it. They both sat together on treasure chests of candy, stating the obvious to each other.   
  
"Clover is late, Mr Wink."   
  
"She is indeed, Mr.Fibb, if she doesn't get here soon, I fear that our comrades might kill each other."  
  
"I agree entirely, Mr. Wink."   
  
There was one more villain here, and it was his turn to be annoyed. The Common Cold leaned over the ship's edge, eye twitching. Today was his cold's fifteenth anniversary. He'd had the same cold for exactly fifteen years. Between Knighbrace's rants, Stickybeard's threats, Wink and Fibb's talking, and Tolinater and Clover's absence, he was feeling worse then usual.  
  
"I'm going looking for Clober." he called over his shoulder, and flew away.   
  
He had just left when Count Spankalot appeared in a puff of smoke on the deck of the Sweet Revenge. He was carrying second in command of the Kid Mafia, Giovanni Panzanelli, both looking like crap. The count lay down the unconscious boy on the deck. KnightBrace ran to him.   
  
"It's okay, I'm a doctor." he said.  
  
"No, you're not. You're a dentist." Stickybeard said, pointing his candy cane hook at the self- appointed doctor.  
  
"He might have a chipped tooth." KnightBrace said defensively.  
  
"Perhaps, you should explain what happened, Count Spankalot." Mr. Wink said coolly, remembering that the count had joined the Kids Next Door, with his entrance being their expense.  
  
"Yes, tell us how this happened." Mr. Fibb said.  
  
The count cleared his throat and sat down.  
  
######################  
  
"Uh..Clover? We'd better go. We don't want to be here when the KNDorks get here, I'm not ready." Mikey said.   
  
"You go' lucky, mate. We need to go." Clover panted. Not a second earlier, they had been engaged in battle. Now Mikey slung Spyder over his shoulder, groaning with the weight. He started for the door, but was blocked by Cree.  
  
"You think you can attack me and jut call it off?!" she growled with fire in her eyes. Mikey's eyes contrasted nicely, they were icy cold.  
  
"I can do whatever I want." he growled, and threw something at the assassin. It was a contact release smoke bomb. Cree covered her mouth and eyes. She coughed violently. When the smoke cleared, all three gangsters were gone.   
  
####################  
  
The mafia gangsters were lucky. The Deathstrike could run without the help of a pilot, and they used it to cover fire. They were annoyingly late for their meeting on the Sweet Revenge. Spyder's eyes fluttered awake, still baring the mark of the Deathstrike. Mikey put his glasses on for him. The assassin sat up.   
  
"Where's Cree?" he growled. No sooner had he said that that he passed out again. The other two gangsters shrugged. For a almost totaled weapon, the AFOF-12 was moving with surprising agility and speed. Clover knew enough about the demonic scorpion mech to program it to get to Stickybeard's.   
  
"I hope Giovanni's there." Mikey said.  
  
######################   
  
Both teams arrived at the tree house at relatively the same time. Both had explained their near failures, and laughed at how they each earned victory. Ben's hair refused to come back down, it still stuck straight up. All ten children arrived in the main room. Cree spat out her soda the second she saw Father's children.  
  
"Wha-where- What are you doing here? Don't tell me you've sided with my sister?! Ben, what the hell did you do to your hair?" The Delightful Children From Down the Lane straightened, fixed their ties, and Andy smoothing his tattered dress jacket.   
  
"Cree, dear, we found this to be a necessary evil in order to apprehend and bring to justice, Father's attackers. We sided together to fight a common enemy. Tell Father that his Delightful Children are working on avenging him.   
  
"But the Kids Next Door?! How could you? Have you no dignity?! That's my sister!" Cree objected.  
  
"I told you..." Anne grumbled.   
  
"Like we had a choice." Andy said.   
  
"Since when did you all talk separately?" Cree asked. The dialog distracted Cree long enough for Numbuh Five to attack her older sister. They fought briefly, the operatives cheering Numbuh Five along, the Delightful Children saying nothing. Cree leaped for the window, and said, "Wait 'till Father finds out about this!" She laughed wickedly, and left.   
  
"Our Father......is going to kill us when he finds out about this..." The Delightful Children faltered, they seemed on the edge of crying.

* * *

Sorry for this chapter being so late, but I've been doing other things. Now I'll get back to this. 


	16. Understanding One's Problems

_Now we are featuring The Interesting Twins From Under the Mountains. I looked up baby names, and I thought that the twins names were appropriate, though I doubt that that's what their real names are. Also, this takes place shortly before OPERATION END._

* * *

The Delightful Children From Down the Lane met their Father in his hospital bed. He was normal looking enough, the fiery glow that silhouetted his body was gone. His now icy blue eyes stared at his offspring contemptuously.   
  
"My agent told me that you were forming an alliance with the Kids Next Door. Explain." 

Even in the hospital, as an invalid, he still radiated danger like a white hot iron radiated heat. The Delightful Children knew better then to speak out of sync.  
  
"We found that we share a common enemy, Father. All of our normal allies seem to be turning against us. They have all sided with the new enemy. After our forces were crippled, we found forming a temporary truce with the Kids Next Door our best option. Even with this alliance, we are gathering information about their base that we can use to our advantage."   
  
Father seemed less then convinced, "You are working with an enemy to avenge me? Very sweet, but who is working on the repair of our humble home?"   
  
The Delightful Children From Down the Lane stared at the hospital floor; they found it easier to look at then Father's icy glare, "In exchange for our services, the Kids Next Door are providing lodging and ....are helping repair the home, but most of the work is carried out by our personally hired contractors and workers."  
  
"Very good. I'll expect that the threat is terminated and a new plan for the destruction for the Kids Next Door ready when I get out of here. That is all."   
  
"Father?"  
  
"Yes? What is it, my children?"   
  
"What is the number for the Interesting Twins From Under the Mountain?"   
  
"Why?"   
  
"We have a favor to ask of them..."   
  
###############  
  
Meanwhile, in Japan, the Interesting Twins From Under the Mountain worked on their most dangerous weapon. They were laying off on the missions, as for the most part, they were too sore, physically and mentally from fighting with the Kids Next Door. A call came from the brother's cell phone.   
  
"Hai?"   
  
"Yasashiku?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
"This is your siblings in service to Father, his Delightful Children From Down the Lane. Is Kane also present?"   
  
Right now, Yasashiku was not in all of the best moods to be taking orders from Father. However, he had incredible patience and politeness, and besides, it was his children, not Father.   
  
"Yes, my twin sister is here. Tell me, what is it you desire?"   
  
"Can you make it to America? We need you for an important mission not involving the Kids Next Door. Father and all of his 'children' are in danger. We need your help, we will pay for your plane ticket. This is very important."   
  
Kane was wondering why her brother was turning pale.  
  
"What is troubling you, Brother?" she asked. He held up his hand to silence her.   
  
"Yes, yes, we will be there shortly. Yes, good bye." Yasashiku said, hanging up.   
  
"Father is in the hospital and the one who did this is also after us and everyone else associated with Father. We are to go to America to help stop this madness. Pack your things."   
  
###########  
  
Numbuh One had called headquarters to inform them that The Delightful Children would be helping them with a particular dangerous mission and to update Giovanni Panzanelli's profile. They said that they'd be sending an operative to work with them and to keep the Delightful Children From Down the Lane from trying anything funny.  
  
Numbuh 274 entered Father's room. Ben and 274 eyed each other with nothing but pure loathing in their eyes, which pleased Father. Numbuh 274 actually had much to thank Ben for; his decommission had led to Chad's advancement. The Delightful Children From Down the Lane tensed, in case Ben was going to fly off on a tangent.   
  
" EX Numbuh 273." Numbuh 274 said forcibly, his lips curled in a sick smile. Ben plastered a similar smile.  
  
"CHAD."   
  
"How's business?"   
  
"Spectacular, and what's it like having KIDS kiss your ass?"  
  
"BEN!" his siblings scolded. Chad only smirked.  
  
"Very nice. And a suit suits you nicely. As does cowering in fear of an adult. You never had what it took to get into global command anyway. Being a Delightful Dork suits you fine."   
  
"A 10.7 KNDanger rating, got it when I was ten. I wonder, what will your rating be?" Ben said coolly. 274 tensed.   
  
"If you..." Chat growled, his voice reaching Ben's ears alone.  
  
"What's the matter Chad? Aren't you inviting me to your party? I'll help spread the word!" Ben gloated, then he called out into the halls, where Numbuhs One through Five were sitting.   
  
"CHAD'S GOING TO TURN THIR-"   
  
"SHUT UP!" 274 yelled, pulling Ben back into the room and punching him in the jaw. Ben staggered back for a second, then he came around for a counterstrike to the operative's head.   
  
"Why you....!?" Ben yelled, and swung several punches to 274. Everyone watched in horror as the two sworn enemies fought on the floor. John pulled at Ben and the five KND operatives held fast to 274.   
  
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Father bellowed, which spooked everyone, the two fighters froze, "I see that this truce is an uneasy one, but you all must work together. Ben, I am most displeased that one of my own would participate in a barbaric act. I don't care if you were a fighter in your.....past career. Get up, only animals lie on the floor."   
  
The Delightful Children all dusted Ben off, curtsied or bowed, then left. As they left, Chad heard one of the Delightful Dorks whisper to their teammates, "That was bad, Ben, I wouldn't be surprised if Father saw through it. Looking like the truce was harder then it is."   
  
Did he goad me into hitting him? Chad thought. He wiped his nose on his sleeve, much to Father's disgust, and saw blood. Though he was an adult, Numbuh 274 remembered his manners, "It was a nice visit, sir. I'll be leaving now."   
  
"Yes, I'll see you soon." Father said, and Numbuh 274 wondered what he was planning.   
  
##############  
  
The doorbell sounded in the Ragazzi apartment. The annoying part was that the person was ring it over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. A disgruntled Angelo answered the door when he should be grading papers.   
  
"Hello?"   
  
He saw Nigel Uno and Ben Anderson. Nigel was armed with 2x4 technology that Angelo would normally have forgotten about, except that the memory wiping tended to wear off with massive head trauma or severe electrical shock. Angelo had almost gone into cardiac arrest when he was struck by lightning.  
  
"All right, adult, we have a few questions for you."   
  
"Okay, come on in. Hello Ben, I'm done grading your paper."   
  
The Children all sat in a black leather recliner before a wood coffee table, drinking drinking jasmine tea, before the adult on the nicest terms with the Kids Next Door. Numbuh One sipped the tea served before him. The second he got a teaspoon in his mouth, his eyes bugged out behind those sunglasses. It seemed that every tooth in his mouth screamed in agony. He'd never met anyone who liked so much sugar, not even Numbuh Three.   
  
Too sweet! Numbuh One thought, It seemed as though his Friends thought likewise. Ben didn't seem bothered in the least. He sipped tea stoically.   
  
"Is this about Mikey?" Angelo asked.  
  
"How did you know?" Numbuh One asked, his eyebrow arched. He added milk to his tea in hopes of dulling the super sweet of Angelo's tea. It was tolerable, but still way too sweet for normal adult tastes. Angelo was no normal adult. He wasn't even in the villain adult spectrum.   
  
"I knew this would come, and I'm guessing you're not asking him to join....your organization. He talks about it often." Angelo couldn't afford to let them know that the memory wiping had worn off. It happened to very few people, and they were often committed to an asylum. Angelo told stories about being an operative, but he never imagined that Mikey would have actually gotten so bent out of shape for not being admitted, or had even believed him.   
  
_Please say he hasn't caused trouble, please say he hasn't caused trouble...._Angelo prayed.  
  
"Your brother is proving to a serious threat to all children in the Kids Next Door section V." Numbuh One said.   
  
There was loud cursing in Angelo's head at that moment.   
  
"He wasn't kidding," he laughed sadly, "but I'm sorry, kids. I can't rat out my brother. I'm not going to tell you anything useful. But I will ask you a question. Why do you think that Michelangelo lives with me?"   
  
An awkward silence.   
  
"Our Father was a hard man who kicked me out of the house when I wanted to pursue a teaching career. I moved to the U.S and became a very successful prep school Language Arts teacher. Ben's one of my students. Anyway, Michelangelo was sent to me when the Italian Kids Next Door attacked him. He had threatened to blow up their tree house if he wasn't given an official Numbuh. One small threat erupted into a full scale showdown when it became a hostage situation. He was almost arrested, but moved here, where they had no power.  
  
" Seems like he wants his revenge. I'd advise strong caution, Michelangelo never makes the same mistakes twice. Now I'm not asking you to like him, I'm only asking that you understand.Mikey want to join your Kids Next Door thing. Now he's hellbent on killing you because you wouldn't let him. There may be many reasons for this, so all I ask is that you understand. "   
  
"Well, thank you for your time, we'll be leaving."   
  
"Goodbye, have a nice day. Oh, Ben? I've graded you paper, do you want it?" Angelo said, handing Ben his typed short story. Ben smiled at the eighty-nine he'd received on it.   
  
"Thank you very much, Mr. Ragazzi."   
  
###########  
  
** Michelangelo Ragazzi  
  
KNDanger rating: 6.0  
  
Status:Accounted for  
  
Age: 10  
  
Gender: Boy  
  
Nationality: Lives in the US (Not a citizen)  
  
Lineage: mixed race/ Italian  
  
Family: older brother  
  
Specialty: Criminal activity  
  
Mental Condition: out of his damned mind  
  
KND Crimes: (subject was suspected of the following crimes but never convicted or sentenced for any due to lack of evidence, hence low danger rating) threats, burglary, arson, organized crime, battery, conspiracy, siding with adults, armed robbery, stealing, vandalism, plotting to undermined KND, threating an operative, disturbing the peace, mission sabotage, assault of an operative, use of hostages.  
  
History: Born in Italy, moved to the U.S. for "family reasons" when he was 10. Very  
crazy with an evil streak. Might be unstable and tends to do whatever it takes to  
get what he wants. Almost always gets henchmen to do his bidding. Mental  
instability was first identified when he was refused admittance into the Kids  
Next Door Global Organization. Global Command refused his admittance not because  
of lack of skills but rather because of the same reasons the members of the Delightful  
Children From Down the Lane were not asked to become operatives.**

**Abilities: martial arts, organized crime**

****  
  
Numbuh One observed this profile with interest. If they caught Mikey, then the Italian Kids Next Door could finally be able to relax. Angelo had helped them immensely, now they knew who to ask. Mikey and all of his henchmen were doomed.

* * *

Hai = yes (I think)

_And that's that! Well, I have nothing to say. So, remember, Gundam Action figures love you no matter what._


	17. That's just plain not nice

To Shadw, sorry, but Mikey isn't Zechs. Very good guess, though. I'll tell everything in the last chapter so you all know that I'm not just making this up. And to Cyber Commander, I'm assuming that because The Interesting Twins didn't actually commit any crimes other then bugging the KND, they weren't taken to prison. Sorry for not updating sooner.

* * *

The meeting on the Sweet Revenge took place as peacefully as anything like that could go. The Common Cold had reported that the dragon that Spyder made was deactivated. Giovanni was patched up as best he could, as Knightbrace knew quiet a bit of first aid. He tried to ask Giovanni all of the questions needed to prove that there was no permanent damage to Giovanni's brain, but it was difficult, as Giovanni seemed to have forgotten English.   
  
"How many fingers?" Knightbrace asked, holding up three fingers  
  
"Tres."  
  
"What's three times three?"   
  
"Nove."  
  
"The landlubber just needs to rest. Let 'em be." Stickybeard said.  
  
"There might be brain damage, if he's not okay, then we'll have to take him to the hospital." Knightbrace said in a wicked tone.  
  
Mikey leaned over to Giovanni, "Parla Inglese?"  
  
"Si."  
  
"We speak English here, Giovanni. Do you remember any English?"  
  
"Yes...where am I?" Giovanni said, harder to understand then ever.   
  
"You're on a pirate ship."   
  
Giovanni looked exasperated, "No, Where am I really?"   
  
Mikey sighed.  
  
###################  
  
Angelo must have told his little brother about Numbuh One's meeting, because Mikey had invited Numbuh One....and only Numbuh One, to a meeting at his personal office, an Italian Restaurant. It would be one on one. It was the oldest trap in the book. Mikey knew this.   
  
Numbuh One opted to go, but he had all operatives and all Delightful Children waiting around while the meeting took place. Numbuh One found Mikey sitting in a comfortable chair in a relatively uncrowded Italian restaurant.  
  
"Please, Mr.Uno, sit." The gangster said, motioning to the chair in front of him. Numbuh One complied. Spaghetti was placed in from of him. Mikey was having the same dish. A waiter, a scarred Italian who looked familiar, filled their wine glasses with vanilla coke. His head was heavily bandaged, with a patch on his cheek, and an another one wrapped around his head.   
  
"We should stop this violence, Mr. Uno. Why don't we make a deal?" Mikey asked, holding the wine glass in his hand. He sipped slowly.   
  
"If you want to be an operative, forget it." Numb uh One shot. He got a bad feeling about the food and drink.   
  
"I no longer care about that, Mr. Uno, I just want to make peace, you see. I think we could be friends."   
  
"Really." Numbuh One said flatly, "Don't call me Mr. Uno. That's my dad." Mikey shrugged.   
  
"Nigel?"   
  
"Numbuh One."   
  
"Numbuh One, leave the Delightful Children to me, I'll take care of them myself. They are both of our enemies. Next, please don't interfere with any of my activities. We are a proper and legitimate organization under the eyes of the adults."  
  
"The Kids Next Door fight adults. Do you really think we care that the enemy approves of you. Pft." Numbuh One said, rolling his eyes.  
  
Mikey seemed unphased, "Oh, right. Forgive me."  
  
"We have nothing to talk about, Michelangelo, Now I'll be leaving." Numbuh One said, getting up. He left quickly. Mikey was amused to see that at five minute intervals, sever other people left as well, obviously just his friends in disguise.  
  
Mikey walked over to the fish tank in the corner, and poured Nigel's glass of coke into the water. Within seconds, the fish withed and died.   
  
######################  
  
Midnight at the suburbia. A blue 1972 Ford pickup drove down the streets. It stopped at a corner, and out stepped the Tolinater and his only son, The Spawn of the Tolinater. This time, however, the Spawn of the Tolinater was wearing black and grey armor, like the kind Cree owned, except more functional. He wore a black tattered cape, and this made him look like Smoke from Mortal Kombat.  
  
"Uh, Dad... Tell me why we just TPed our OWN house?"  
  
"Isn't it obvious? If everyone's house is TPed, then they'll never suspect us."  
  
The Spawn of the Tolinater sighed. His father, and most adults he knew, made no sense. He grabbed a toilet paper roll, and like his father, threw it at one house, keeping one end. The Tolinater simply used the rolls on his wrists to seemingly physic animate them to wrap around trees and other objects. This was the Tolinater's sacred mission. To TP the whole neighborhood. He'd been planning it for months.   
  
The Spawn of the Tolinater was having fun, to say the least. TPing, with the permission form his dad, no less. Nobody would recognize him anyway.   
  
"This is great, Dad!" he said gleefully. He regretted not watching Tron tonight, but this was definably worth it. He loved old movies. Seeing nobody around, he floated off the ground. Like the Terrible Tutor, Phillip Jr. could fly. He thought he was like a Powerpuff.....Boy.

* * *

Sorry for taking so long, and for the short chapter, and for the lack of substance.


	18. and into the Fire

Cyber said that anyone who had seen Godfather would have seen Mikey's idea right through. Well, I never saw Godfather.

* * *

"Did you honestly think that would work?" Giovanni asked Mikey's shadowy form.  
  
"No, to be honest, I didn't."   
  
"Hey! Gio! You're spekin' English. That's gud!" Clover said, sipping the nontoxic vanilla coke.   
  
"Yes, I am. If you didn't think it would work, boss, then why did you try it?"   
  
"If that would have nailed their leader, then there would have been no point to getting the crew to fight them. Killing them that easily would have deemed them unworthy, and I could have called everything off with minimal compensation. A test of sorts."  
  
"Ah."   
  
############  
  
The next morning, one could have been easily misled into thinking that it was snowing. Instead, the whole neighborhood was covered in toilet paper. The WHOLE neighborhood. The ruins of Delightful Manor were buried under layers of the stuff, the tree house seemed less formidable covered in many layers of bathroom tissue. The KND security had picked up nothing but a black flash, then the white of toilet paper.   
  
People everywhere wondered what had happened, all except one lone teenager. She had cleared off enough paper to sit on a park bench. Cree spoke into the communicator with Father.  
  
"Nothing to worry about, Father. Definitely the Tolinater's work." How did he get the tree house? "He has a son, remember? A goth geek kid at my school. He's got weirdo powers." The Tolinater's son? Is he...? "Yes, Father, that was the boy, the one who escaped. The only one to ever defy your will." The memory enraged Cree and Father alike. Phil had run away from Father after plowing through most of Father's defenses like they were....his dad.  
  
Meanwhile, the Tolinater himself had called Giovanni, and told him that he had in fact, not rolled into a corner and died, like Fibb had hoped.   
  
"Hey, I have a DAY JOB." Tolinater said, angrily.   
  
"You did make a deal with the boss, though."  
  
"I can't help it, I work long hours."   
  
"Well, get tomorrow off, the boss has a job for you."   
  
"Fine. Does my son play a part in this?"  
  
"Spawn of the Tolinater? Yes, I think we can find a use for him."  
  
######################  
  
Things were not going well at the tree house, Ben and Chad butted heads on EVERYTHING. The other children merely tolerated this, but Numbuh One was wondering if they'd have to get someone else from global command to help. To make matters worse, the Interesting Twins From Under the Mountain had arrived, and made everything worse.   
  
"You had no authorization to recruit new members from your side!"   
  
"You have no control over us, Chad. If we feel that we would be best suited by employing help From the Interesting Twins from Under the Mountain, then that is what we'll do. They have as much to do with this as you."   
  
Chad could find nothing illegal with this and left.  
  
That evening, 274 found Ben in a storage facility, "Tell me, Ben.How do you remember me, anyways? It took us forever to capture you and decommission you, but we did. So how do you remember being in the Kids Next Door at all?"   
  
"Of course. I was decommissioned, I know." The tall brunette turned to face Chad. His eyes fell to the floor, as he recalled the memory, "After I was decommissioned, I resumed life as if I had never joined the Kids Next Door. I remembered nothing, as not to come attack you. However." He paused for a moment.  
  
"Go on...." Chad urged.  
  
"I was painting one of the towers on the manner, as I had just failed a math test. I sat on the scaffolding, painting that tower that was right over pond. I was being reckless, " he said, putting a hand to his shoulder," Because I thought that if I fell, I'd land in the pond. I reached for the orange paint, but it was too far away. I lost balance, and the scaffolding toppled over. I missed the pons and landed on the ground. I was lucky to have lived. Luckily, I landed on my feet, then I fell on my head. My ankles were broken, but I lived. When I came to, all of my memories that the last Numbuh 86 had drained from me were back."   
  
Ben smiled wickedly at the thought of outsmarting the KND, "After I regained my memories, I thought only of revenge, so..."  
  
"You set out to become the complete opposite of what the Kids Next Door stand for." Numbuh One finished. The two turned to see Numbuh One in the doorway.  
  
"How long have you been standing there?" Ben asked, "Let me guess, long enough?"   
  
"Numbuh One peered at the noodle-like boy over his sunglasses, "You got it. You were so angry at the Kids Next Door, that you made a deal with your Father. You somehow brainwashed your siblings to join you as well, and one by one, you all started drinking coffee, and that's what makes you 'Delightful". That's what 'Father's Children' are made of, just vengeful kids." Numbuh One said, walking to one end of the storage room to mark inventory.   
  
#####################  
  
Cree left the park and left for lunch, just in time to see that goth geek she hated. He was older, and had a driver's licence. She saw him sitting in the back of his father's blue truck They had to use Tolinater's prized blue truck, as the yellow car he owned was repossessed because they ran it through Wink and Fibb's yard. Well, Spawn of the Tolinater liked the truck more, anyway.   
  
"G' afternoon, Cree." He said friendly. He knew that would severely bug her. She scoffed as they passed.  
  
"Love you, too."   
  
Just then, swinging from tree to tree, the mighty Tolinater landed on the roof of the cab.  
  
"Come, my child! We must go to the Sweet Revenge!!" Tolinater said loudly enough to attract the attention of everyone in a fifty feet radius of the truck.  
  
################  
  
The Interesting Twins were located under the truck of the Tolinater, their job was to spy on Mikey and his henchmen. This was very easy of course, though holding on under a truck as a reckless driver swerved through the roads was quite frightening.   
  
"Fortune has smiled upon us this day, sister."   
  
"It has indeed, brother."   
  
The Tolinater got onto the ship by picking up enough speed to drive up th side of the ship for a few seconds, then   
  
When they saw Mikey for the first time, they couldn't believe their eyes. Mikey was a kid! And this child put Father in the hospital.   
  
"This is the leader? A mere child?" Kane asked herself. They were disguised as the old cat lady, whom they had knocked out. They recognized Kazuo, they had played together when they were five and he was six; a year later, he left for America. Now he had grown into a sword wielding maniac, according to the Delightful Children. All villains were on the deck of the modified Sweet Revenge, now a metal plated battleship. Sitting in the Captain's chair was Mikey, in his best suit, a pinstriped business suit with a black dress shirt and white tie. He wore shiny black dress shoes and black socks. On his head was a black bowler. He waited for it to get quiet.  
  
######################  
  
Giovanni patrolled the area for anything suspicious, expecting the Kids Next Door or the Delightful Children to try something. It wasn't long before he saw the unconscious body of the Old Cat Lady. He left immediately to see the boss.   
  
Getting to the deck of the ship, he saw the Old Cat Lady again, though he had left her where she was. She couldn't have gotten up and beat him here, he'd know. And these spys thought they could fool him...  
  
"Ladies!" Mikey said, standing, "The day is finally at hand! The day we destroy the Kids Next Door!"   
  
There was loud cheering from the staggering amount of villains that had shown up.   
  
"Unfortunately, not everyone has our vision (Or our insanity), to participate."   
  
The crowd booed and hissed.  
  
"But they will serve our cause....as examples!"   
  
More cheering from the crowd.  
  
Just then, Giovanni stormed over to the Cat Lady, and pulled her dress off. Everyone gasped, seeing the Interesting Twins. They laughed shakily.  
  
Mikey's eyes blazed, "Giovanni, Spyder, Clover....show our audience here a REAL example as to why they joined me in the first place!"   
  
The Interesting Twins gulped as Mikey walked over, grabbed Kane's communicator, and smashed it under heel. He kicked the scraps away. Kane could only stare at the smashed technology, her hopes with it. Yasashiku stared into the eyes of Mikey....they looked like Father's.

* * *

Author's comment: I am sleepy. 


	19. Teen Angst

_I wondered if I made the contest too hard, so I'll give another hint:Don't you find it odd that Mikey is from Italy, but has red hair?_

* * *

Night fell and still no words of the Interesting Twins. The beacon on their communications device had since burned out.   
  
"I hope nothing bad has come of our interesting twins..." The Delightful Children worried, pacing about the main room, wringing their hands in unison.   
  
274 scoffed, "Don't send Delightful Dweebs to do a kid's job!" Ben shot him a look that could only be emulated by Father.   
  
"I hope they're okey..." Numbuh Three said weakly. The Delightful Children saw it as odd that she cared so much for an enemy.   
  
"Father has his faith in them, we will trust them as well."  
  
There was a loud rapping at the door,and a thud from outside. Weapons bared, the operatives opened the door slowly and carefully. What they saw made them gasp.   
  
"What is it? What happened?" The Delightful Children barked impatiently.   
  
The operatives carried in the beaten and battered remains of the Interesting Twins.   
  
"What happened?" The Delightful Children yelled, running to their 'siblings'.   
  
"It was horrible..." Kane sobbed.   
  
"They discovered us and attacked merciliessly...." Yasashiku continued.   
  
"Will they ever fight again?" Numbuh Three asked.   
  
"They'd better not..." said a familiar voice. Outside were a pair of glowing orange lenses. A whoosh of air, and he was gone.   
  
########  
  
The Interesting Twins were on their feet the next day, though they were no longer fit for any kind of espionage. The Delightful Children put them in charge of cleaning up and repairing the damage of Delightful Manor; Father would only be staying a month in the hospital...they had that long to get rid of the Kid Mafia.   
  
The two twins sat in lawn chairs, leaning on each other, overseeing the work done on the manor, surprised at how quickly the work was being done. Already, reconstruction was underway. Father knew how to get work done quickly.   
  
With the manor supervised, it was no longer necessary for the Delightful Children to make return trips to supervise.   
  
Their continued presence served to severely agitate 274, which in turn pleased Ben greatly.  
  
############  
  
Mikey was feeling good about today..now he'd be finishing off this sector of the Kids Next Door, then he could move right to the Italian sector.  
  
Meanwhile, Stickybeard and Knightbrace butted heads on EVERYTHING. They often had to be pulled apart by the other villains. Numbuh Two's grandmother kept hitting the two younger men with her cane and told them to shut their yaps before she gummed them to death.   
  
"I van' to destroy the Kids Next Door like you two, but if you don't shut yer yaps yesterday..I'm going to show you what a senior citizen can do!"  
  
"Like dislocate your hip?" Knightbrace retorted nastily. He was promptly pelted by her cane.   
  
"Like beat the tar outta you!"   
  
Stickybeard laughed merrily until he was attacked by the old woman's two cohorts. The fighting quickly got out of hand and finally Clover sprayed everyone with a hose.   
  
"Now then, wats zat say 'bout ya when an Irishwoman has to break up a fight?"   
  
Giovanni shook his head and leaned over to his boss, "I don't think this alliance is going to hold at all..."  
  
Mikey shook his head, "No, you're right. Well, this only needs to hold out for a small while. Then we won't even need them."  
  
"Someone's not telling everything..." Giovanni said coyly, flashing a rare smile.  
  
######################  
  
Spawn of the Tolinater glided on the air easily. On his head was an enormous sun hat, with a three foot radius of a brim. He needed to find the REAL way to deactivate the tree house's power. He picked up speed as he approached the tree house.  
  
Cree moved stealthily to the tree house to sneak in and get rid of the Kids Next Door. Then she and the Delightful Children could find a better way to get rid of Mikey. His own children had disgraced Father immensely, and she loved the thought of them getting what they deserved. She resented the Idea of working with them at all, but it'd be a necessary evil, as one could not forget the hidden Forsaken in the ranks of the prim and proper school children.  
  
Suddenly something flew over her with suck great speed that it send her flying, right into the ruins of the fountain of the Delightful Manor. Cree was furious. Looking around, she didn't see anyone, it was Sunday...the workers had the day off, and the Interesting Twins had gone to see Father.   
  
"Cree, what happened?" Father asked on communicator.  
  
"It was the Spawn of the Tolinater!" She raged, remembering the black flash that accompanied the wind that sent her into the fountain, "He flies around like he's never heard of gravity!"   
  
She was too angry to detect Phil Jr. was right behind her, hovering above the water. He let out a loud, "BOO!" and made Cree jump and turn to see him laughing.   
  
"You jerk!" she splashed water at him, but he moved out of the way.   
  
"I'm sorry, 'couldn't resist." He said, holding his milky white hand to her, "Let me help you out." She fumed and slapped her ebony hand to his white one.   
  
"I don't need your help, traitor." She spat and walked away. She didn't need to show up to destroy the Kids Next Door all wet.   
  
Spawn of the Tolinater hated Cree and Father alike and could only feel pity for the Interesting Twins and the Delightful Children From Down the Lane. His eyes turned black and began to fizz. Within seconds he had fully charged ocular beams. He blinked once and his eyes seemed to return to normal, except they seemed to sparkle faintly.   
  
He rushed to face Cree and fired the black laser beams directly into her chest. Because she was wearing her armor, there was minimal physical damage, but now she was out cold. Phil never intended to kill her, he had something much worse in mind. Picking her up, he carried her to the lawn of the Tree house. She might as well be decommissioned. He could disable the power in a minute, he didn't want to miss this. He picked up a box with air holes in it.  
  
##############################  
  
"TEENAGER ALERT TEENAGER ALERT TEENAGER ALERT!" the alarms blared.   
  
"Can somebody stop that racket?!" The Delightful Children yelled over the alarm.  
  
"All right team! Where's the threat?" 274 asked.  
  
They found the first teen immediately and turned off the alarm, completely obilivious to the second creeping around.   
  
####################  
  
The Spawn of the Tolinater held in his teenage hands a complete readout of the tree house. This was perfect, while the Kids Next Door were dealing with Cree, who would be decommissioned, he could make his dad proud. Finding the power generator, all those hamsters....  
  
The Spawn of the Tolinater was amazed at the number of hamsters there were. There had to be thousands! Well, no matter. He opened his box and dropped the contents on the floor. They were two of the Cat Lady's cats, a black one and a white one. The result was spectacular. All the hamsters scrambled, trying to flee the cats, who had gone nuts. The Spawn of the Tolinater laughed his head off, delighted that it worked so well. Maybe most operatives were dog people, but Phillip Andrews Jr was a die hard cat person.   
  
##############  
  
The operatives dragged the teen that they found onto the couch in the mission prep room. The kids could hardly contain their excitement. Now they could finally decommission the worst Forsaken in KND history. The Delightful Children had mixed feelings about this. Getting rid of Cree would help them immensely. Father wouldn't disfavor them if Cree was gone....  
  
But what would that make them if they didn't help a fellow 'sibling'? They'd be just as bad as Cree.   
  
"Well, now, Cree Lincoln is finally caught by me! This is great!."   
  
_ Man, there's no way Ben's gonna put up with that kind of crap. Let Chad get away with another decommission? No way._ Anne thought. Her siblings thought likewise.

* * *

I've been busy, so this is a short chapter.


	20. Venez nous obtenir

Okey, here's another hint for Mikey, He's not based off of ANYONE from Gundam Wing, so try another series with a redhead Italian. This chapter was inspired by I dream I had about the KND....

Sorry for takingFOREVER to update, but I had a severely long writer's block.

* * *

We'll never know if The Delightful Children would have stepped in or not, because just as 274 was going to call Numbuh 86, the power went dead.

"Cree, What happened?" Father asked.

274 grabbed the earing, "If you want your agent to hear you, you'll have to talk a lot louder then that." He smashed it.

In that second, something else was smashed. The front door wall was smashed in by a cannon shot. The children were soon looking at the hull of a steel plated battleship entitled, "The Sweet Revenge II". Every villian that was known for physical violence swung over on the ropes. Sheldon landed, laughed, then fell over with a dislocated hip, "Oh rutabegas.."

"Kids Next Door, battle stations!" 274 said before Numbuh One could.

"Delightful Children, prepare for combat!" Ben said. With no power, they were at a severe disadvantage.

"Time for your just desserts!" Grandma Stuffum said, spilling her food all over the floor. The slop quickly formed into hideous monsters that attacked. The children locked their jaws and attacked.

Anne left for Numbuh Five's room and came back with a can of hairspray and lit candle, "Burn them all with flammthrowers!" she said as she set fire to all of the hideous foodstuff soldiers. They screamed in agony until they desolved into ashes.

"Wasting food?!" Grandma Stuffum screamed as she let loose another torrent of food.

Grandma Stuffum's sucess (if you can call it sucess) wasn't the norm in the villian's group. Stickybeard and Knightbrace were more interested in attacking each other then the kids defending the fort, and the Senior Citizen's Squad..well, they were just too old to be fighting anything...

Mikey was vexed that the whole attack wasn't going exactly his way, but where the bratty kids on the defense were superior in plain skill, he'd nail them with sheer force.

"ATTACK!" The Common Cold yelled, casting snot down on the people below, including a few villians.

The Spawn of the Tolinater really wasn't into getting snot/evil food/candy/dental supplies/toliet paper all over him, so he decided to take his leave. He floated onto the mast of the ship and became a mere observer. _This is better then KightRider..._

The children held off the villians bravely. Anne was scorching the food at an alarming rate, making the living food think twice before charging. The Kids Next Door fended off the weaker villians with the 2X4 Technology that didn't need power, like the SPLANKER. Eventually, Anne's hairspray ran out...

"Oh, dear..." She said nervously. Chelsea jumped to defend her sister in the last second, though Anne was capibal of holding her own.

There was a dogpile of almost every villian and disgusting food there, though it quaked.

"Hold him down!" Numbuh Two's grandma said, _she'd_ remembered to take her anti-aging cream at least. It was in vain, Ben threw them off in a spectacular blast. He growled, and plowed through people, weapon shots, and food everywhere. He was running out of energy, but he refused to let up, even for a second. He did not even let the thought enter his mind. He was strong; Father's son.

Andy dueled with pirates with Numbuh Three. Numbuh Three gleefully danced around the pirates, they all ended up hitting each other. Andy grabbed a few solid colored marbles, some string, and a pack of staples.

"I must get these gumballs away from the pirates." Andy said loudly, running away with a jar of marbles.

"Ooooo Gumballs...." The pirates said, charging Andy. He dropped the jar, and as the glass jar shattered, the pirates scooped up the marbles. When they chomped down on the glass orbs, their teeth broke. They stepped backwards, right into the staples, making them scream in pain, then they backed into a net of string. it collapsed into a tangled mess.

Andy laughed his head off.

Cree awoke amounst the chaos, and decided it was best to leave and try to think of a better plan. Maybe they'd all take care of each other. As she left, she locked eyes with Numbuh 274 for a fraction of a second, she had a feeling they'd meet again.

* * *

"Go Giovanni." Mikey said. Giovanni cocked a gun his father left behind.

"Sometimes, you need to do things the dirty way." He said in his soft pleasent voice.

Clover readied the net gun.

"Bonzai!" fired it on the operatives and Delightful Children. She rounded them up one by one. Giovanni pointed his gun.

"Any funny business and you'll be dining on a lead sandwich, _cacpice_?"

The pirates loaded the children onto the boat before Mikey.

"The Demented Children from Down the Lane and the Punks Next Door. How...pleasent it is to meet you all."

"Why are you doing this? Ice cream? Money? Candy? Power?" Numbuh One demanded.

"Destruction. I want to see you suffer." Mikey's eyes were wide.

"You're...insane." The Delightful Children choused.

"I'M NOT CRAZY! Don't you dare call me crazy. YOU'RE the crazy ones. Not me."

"Michelangelo, we are quite certain that it is you that is suffering from insanity." The Delightful Children said, they smiled because they had hit a nerve.

"SHUT UP!" Mikey screamed, kicking Andy in the face; simply because he was the one in front.

"Ow..." Andy wimpered.

"I'M not the one trying to give kids extra school and homework, I'M not the one that destroyed a secret resivoir of mysical ice cream OVER SPRINKLES. AND, I don't do that creepy unison...thing you do. Why do you do that? AND, I have a two sisters and a brother, but you don't see us all registered under one entity sitting in the same desk at school. AND, we celebrate our birthdays seperatly. YOU GUYS ARE FREAKS."

Numbuh Four interjected, "_Pft,_ talk about the pot calling the kettle black, this guy's as looney as the rest of 'em" Numbuh Two chucked until Giovanni kicked the both of them in the stomachs.

"Why do you guys do that anyway?" Mikey asked, then he leaned over to Chelsea, "You're so pretty on the outside, but so ugly on the inside.." He touched her ribbon.

Then he embedded a knife right next to her foot, then he took it out, "How can you be so pretty on the outside but so UGLY on the inside?! Ya know what?! It wouldn't take much to make you guys as ugly on the ouside as you are on the inside!"

"What are you planning on-" Numbuh One interjected before Mikey started up again.

"How can you fight the Kids Next Door when they are the same as you?! You're kids too! They are trying TO HELP YOU! And you would cast them off like an itchy sweater?! What is WRONG with you guys? Your sister and mom were killed by adults, so why not FIGHT THEM?!"

"This guy's had it....he's finally cracked." Numbuh Five said smpathethically.

Numbuh Two whispered to Ben, " I feel sorry for Mr. Ragazzi for having to raise this...psycho."

Ben shook his head, "Nah, Mr.Ragazzi's pretty crazy himself."

_Now,_ Mikey cracked, "I"M NOT CRAZY!!"

He lashed out and the blade left a clean swipe across Numbuh One's face, There was a little pain, then the uncomfortable leaking of blood. To Mikey's credit, he was simply gesturing and had forgotten about the knife in his hand. Not that he apologized.

Mikey stared at the cut for an unconfortably long time with wide amber eyes before finally looking to his direct right and ordering his minons to take the children down to the deck. He would deal with them later.

* * *

"IF that was the looney-ist of loons evah, I don't wanna know who is!" Numbuh Four yelled at the top of his lungs. They were all in the hold, in cells. Kids Next Door in one, Delightful Children in the other.

"Oh, For the love of...can you just shut it?!" The Delightful Children snapped irritably. The uncomfortable accomedations did not put them in the best of moods.

There was a long argument between the Kids Next Door and the Delightfuls while Numbuh Five was thinking. Giovanni yelled at them in Italian to shut it before he came down there.

_"Venez nous obtenir!" _Numbuh Five yelled in French and prayed that in whatever European school Giovanni used to attend, they taught French.

"FINE!" Giovanni said, rather irritated, He readied his tazor and as he tried to jab the ebony operative with it, she grabbed his head and slammed it hard into the metal bars. Giovanni slumped.

She grabbed the keys from him and let everyone go.

"Oo, wee. I am sure glad he spoke French."

"I didn't know you spoke French, Abigale." The Delightful Children chourused.

"It's nuthing."

"We...hate...learning that langauge. It is...most difficult."


End file.
